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CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES 
IN  ENGLISH 


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CONSTRUCTIVE^        ■' 
EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 


BY 


MAUDE  M.  FRANK,  A.B. 

INSTRUCTOR    IN    ENGLISH,     DE    WITT    CLINTON     HIGH     SCHOOL 
NEW    YORK    CITY 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,   AND    CO 

91  AND  93  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 
1909 


COPYBIOHT,   1909, 

Bt  LONGMANS,  GREEN  AND  CO. 
EDUCATION  DEPt» 


PREFACE 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  do  something  toward  sim- 
plifying one  of  the  practical  problems  which  confront 
the  teacher  of  English  in  secondary  schools.  Owing  to 
the  increasingly  varied  demands  of  the  subject,  it  is  not 
unusual  for  the  teacher  possessed  of  even  the  most  use- 
ful manual  of  rhetoric  and  composition  to  feel  that  "  the 
little  more  "  than  the  book  affords  in  the  way  of  practice 
would  be  very  welcome.  Every  teacher  with  "  a  bit  of 
fiat  in  his  soul  "  will,  of  course,  seek  to  provide  this 
little  more,  by  laying  his  memory  and  his  reading  under 
contribution  in  order  to  bring  added  emphasis  to  bear 
where  it  is  needed.  But  how  to  present  the  result  to 
his  student  public, — how  to  bridge  the  gap  between  con- 
sumer and  producer, — is  a  troublesome  question.  Only 
on  rare  occasions  can  the  time  and  the  place  and  the 
students  be  found  all  together;  and  at  best,  the  time 
required  for  placing  supplementary  exercises  upon 
blackboards  or  for  dictating  them  to  classes  must  often 
be  borrowed  or  stolen  from  other  pedagogically  worthy 
pursuits. 

The  following  pages  are  the  result  of  an  attempt  to 
meet  some  of  the  difficulties  of  the  situation.  They  are 
designed  to  furnish  in  convenient  form  more  material 
for  constructive  work,  both  oral  and  written,  than  can 
be  included  in  the  necessarily  comprehensive  manual  of 

541410 


iy  PREFACE 

to-day,  and  thus  to  lessen  the  need  for  emphasizing 
theory  and  corrective  work  during  the  short  time  that 
can  be  devoted  to  formal  rhetoric.  In  planning  the  exer- 
cises, special  consideration  has  been  given  to  the  need  for 
developing  the  student's  vocabulary,  and  the  selection 
of  the  illustrative  passages  has  been  made  with  a  view 
to  securing  interest  without  sacrificing  literary  tone. 
It  will  be  evident  to  any  one  familiar  with  the  field 
of  text-book  literature  that  the  exercises  conform  in  the 
main  to  the  accepted  types  of  rhetorical  practice-work, 
and  can  at  most  have  only  such  claim  to  originality  as 
lies  in  the  selection  and  treatment  of  the  material. 

For  their  courtesy  in  authorizing  the  use  of  selections 
from  their  publications  thanks  are  due  to  many  pub- 
lishers and  authors  in  addition  to  those  to  whom  ac- 
knowledgment has  been  made  in  the  body  of  the  text: 
to  The  Houghton  Mifflin  Company  for  the  selections 
from  James  Russell  Lowell's  Essays,  Emerson's  Essays, 
E.  C.  Stedman's  The  Nature  of  Poetry,  John  Fiske's 
Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors  and  The  American 
Revolution,  James  Freeman  Clarke's  Self-Culture,  Ros- 
siter  Johnson's  Introduction  to  Little  Classics,  Francis 
Lowell's  Joan  of  Arc,  Dean  Briggs's  Routine  and  Ideals, 
and  John  Corbin's  An  American  at  Oxford;  to  Messrs. 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  for  the  selections  from  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant's  Joan  of  Arc,  Laurence  Button's  Talks  in  a 
Library,  G.  Masson's  Story  of  Mediceval  France,  and 
A.  C.  Benson's  At  Large;  to  The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany for  the  selections  from  Alice  Morse  Earle's 
Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days  and  Home  Life  in  Colonial 
Days,  William  Winter's  Old  Shrines  and  Ivy,  Percy 


PREFACE  V 

Mackaje's  Canterbury  Pilgrims,  Lang,  Leaf  and  Myers' 
translation  of  The  Iliad,  and  Butcher  and  Lang's  trans- 
lation of  The  Odyssey;  to  Messrs.  Harper  and  Brothers 
for  the  selections  from  George  William  Curtis's  Essays 
and  As  We  Were  Saying;  to  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  and 
Company  for  the  selections  from  E.  E.  Hale's  Historic 
Boston;  to  Messrs.  Thomas  N'elson  and  Company  for  the 
selections  from  Mackenzie's  History  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century;  to  Messrs.  Ginn  and  Company  for  the  selec- 
tions from  Miss  Hersey's  Talks  to  Girls;  to  Messrs. 
Henry  Holt  and  Company  for  the  selection  from  Pan- 
coast's  Introduction  to  English  Literature;  to  Messrs. 
Macmillan  and  Company  for  the  selection  from  Maurice 
Hewlett's  Quattrocentisteria ;  to  Messrs.  Wm.  Black- 
wood and  Sons  for  the  selection  from  Trollope's  Auto- 
biography;  to  Messrs.  Chas.  Scribner's  Sons  for  the 
quotation  from  Henley's  Echoes;  to  Messrs.  D.  Apple- 
ton  and  Company  and  Messrs.  Smith,  Elder  and  Com- 
pany for  Dr.  Grimstone's  letter  from  Anstey's  Vice 
Versa;  to  The  Macmillan  Company  and  The  Cam- 
bridge University  Press  for  the  selections  from  Sir 
Joshua  Fitch's  Lectures  on  Teaching;  to  Messrs.  Chas. 
Scribner's  Sons  and  Messrs.  Chatto  and  Windus  for  the 
selections  from  Stevenson;  to  Messrs.  Dodd,  Mead  and 
Company  and  Messrs.  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner 
and  Company  for  Austin  Dobson's  A  Fancy  from  Fon- 
tenelle;  to  Messrs.  Harper  and  Brothers  and  to  Messrs. 
Chatto  and  Windus  for  the  selection  from  McCarthy's 
Reign  of  Queen  Anne;  to  Messrs.  Doubleday,  Page  and 
Company  and  to  the  author  for  the  quotation  from 
Rudyard  Kipling's  Ballad  of  the  King's  Jest;  to  Mr. 


vi  PKEFACE 

Edward  Arnold  and  to  Ealph  Nevill,  Esquire,  for  the 
selection  from  Lady  Dorothy  Nevill's  Reminiscences; 
to  Messrs.  E.  P.  Dutton  and  Company  and  Messrs. 
Archibald  Constable  and  Company  for  the  selections 
from  George  Gissing's  Private  Papers  of  Henry  Rye- 
croft;  to  Messrs.  E.  P.  Dutton  and  Company  and  Mr. 
E.  Grant  Eichards  for  the  selections  from  G.  W.  E. 
KusselFs  A  Pocketful  of  Sixpences;  to  Messrs.  E.  P. 
Dutton  and  Company  and  Messrs.  John  and  A.  Hallam 
Murray  for  the  selections  from  On  the  Road  through 
France  to  Florence;  finally,  to  Messrs.  Longmans, 
Green,  and  Company  for  the  selections  from  Froude, 
Andrew  Lang's  Prince  Prigio,  Warner's  English  His- 
tory in  Shakespeare's  Plays,  Bagehot's  Economic 
Studies,  Conington's  translation  of  The  ^neid,  Roose- 
velt's New  York,  Russell's  German  Higher  Schools, 
Creighton's  A  First  History  of  France,  and  Bowen's 
Life  of  Edward  Bowen, 

The  valuable  assistance  rendered  by  Professor  Helen 
Gray  Cone  of  the  Normal  College,  New  York  City,  in 
reading  the  proof-sheets  of  these  exercises  is  most  grate- 
fully acknowledged. 


SUGGESTIONS 

"No  definite  scheme  for  using  a  book  of  supplementary 
exercises  can  in  the  nature  of  things  be  indicated,  since 
the  usefulness  of  such  a  book  must  depend  to  a  great 
extent  upon  its  elasticity  of  arrangement  and  its  adapt- 
ability to  the  needs  of  classes  varying  in  power  and 
working  under  different  conditions.  Some  features  of 
the  general  plan  may,  however,  require  a  word  of 
explanation. 

1.  The  greater  part  of  the  exercises  have  been 
planned  with  the  object  of  furnishing  material  for 
classroom  practice.  Whenever  the  character  of  the  ex- 
ercises will  permit,  therefore,  much  of  the  work  should 
be  done  during  the  recitation  period,  and  if  practicable, 
orally. 

2.  The  amount  of  time  that  may  be  profitably  spent 
in  such  home  preparation  as  is  desirable  has  been  con- 
sidered in  determining  the  length  of  the  exercises. 

3.  Strict  consecutive  order  in  using  the  material  is 
in  no  way  essential.  As  the  headings  indicate,  the  ex- 
ercises are  arranged  according  to  type  rather  than  ac- 
cording to  degree  of  difficulty.  Exercises  of  similar 
type  grouped  under  a  single  heading  are,  however, 
graded  according  to  difficulty. 

4.  The  exercises  marked  with  an  asterisk  are  in- 
tended for  advanced  pupils  only. 

vii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I.— VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSION 

PAGE 

1.  Direct  and  Indirect  Quotation 1 

2.  Interrogation  and  Exclamation 4 

3.  Variety  of  Diction 8 

4.  Simplicity  of  Expression 15 

5.  Euphemisms    18 

6.  Use  of  Single  Words  to  Secure  Brevity 19 

7.  Specific  Words   21 

8.  Generalizing  from  Specific  Expressions 25 

9.  Choice  of  Expression 26 

10.  Shall  and  Will 33 

CHAPTER  II.— THE  SENTENCE 

1.  Loose  and  Periodic  Sentences 36 

2.  Parallel  Structure 41 

3.  Emphasis    43 

4.  Variety  of  Structure 45 

5.  Short  Sentences  50 

6.  Long  Sentences 53 

7.  Use  of  Short  Sentences  as  Introduction  and  as  Con- 

clusion     55 

8.  Sentences  Used  as  Models 60 

CHAPTER  HI.— THE  PARAGRAPH 

1.  Limiting  the  Subject 63 

2.  The  Topic-Sentence 63 

3.  Paragraph  Unity   65 

4.  Paragraph  Coherence  71 

5.  Paragraph  Emphasis    76 

6.  Related  Paragraphs   77 

ix 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV.— RHYTHM 

PAGE 

1.  Line  Division  of  Blank  Verse 80 

2.  Restobing  Rhythm  82 

3.  Altering  Prose  to  Blank  Verse 83 

4.  Completing  Selections  84 

CHAPTER  v.— NARRATION 

1.  Supplying  Conclusions    87 

2.  Amplifying  Brief  Narratives 88 

3.  Stating  the  Point 90 

4.  Writing  Abridgments 92 

5.  Prose  Versions  of  Poetical  Narratives 99 

6.  Telling  Stories  from  Different  Points  of  View 103 

7.  Writinq  Narratives  Leading  to  Given  Conclusions.  . .  112 

CHAPTER  VI.— DESCRIPTION 

1.  Conveying  Impression  by  Detail 115 

2.  Description  by  Conveying  General  Impression  and  by 

Detail  117 

3.  Pictorial  Description  119 

4.  Description  of  Persons 120 

5.  Generalized  Description 123 

6.  Contrasting  Methods  of  Description 126 

CHAPTER  VII.— EXPOSITION 

1.  Definition   128 

2.  Exposition  of  Terms 131 

3.  Exposition  of  a  Process 133 

4.  Exposition  of  a  Method 134 

5.  Exposition  of  Propositions 135 

6.  Classification  of  Terms 137 

CHAPTER  VIII.— ARGUMENTATION 

1.  Statement  of  the  Proposition 140 

2.  Outlining  the  Argument 144 

3.  Refutation   147 

4.  Fallacies    151 


CHAPTER  I 

VAEIETY  OF  EXPKESSION" 
I.  Direct  and  Indirect  Quotation 

A.  In  the  following  'passages,  change  the  direct  quo- 
tations to  indirect,  paying  particular  attention  to  the 
correspondence  of  tenses: — 

Example. — Direct.     After  the  loss  of  Calais,  Queen 

Mary  said,  "  When  I  die,  '  Calais '  will  be  found 

written  on  my  heart." 
Indirect.     After  the  loss  of  Calais,  Queen  Mary  said 

that  when  she  died,   "  Calais "  would  be  found 

written  on  her  heart. 

1.  At  the  time  of  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, John  Hancock  remarked  to  his  associates,  '^We 
must  all  hang  together."  "  If  we  do  not  hang  together," 
responded  Benjamin  Franklin,  *^we  shall  all  hang 
separately." 

2.  The  music-master  of  George  III  said  to  his  royal 
pupil,  "  There  are  three  classes  of  violin  players ;  those  who 
do  not  play  at  all,  those  who  play  very  badly,  and  those  who 
play  well.  Your  Majesty  has  already  succeeded  in  reach- 
ing the  second  class." 

3.  According  to  a  German  fable,  when  Hercules  was  ad- 
mitted to  Olympus,  he  immediately  sought  out  Juno  and 
made  obeisance  to  her,     ^^  It  is  strange,"  remarked  Jupiter, 


;  ^;  :CW§a^UQTrV'E  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

"  that  you  should  do  such  honor  to  your  greatest  enemy." 
"  I  owe  my  greatness  to  the  obstacles  which  she  placed  in 
my  path,"  responded  the  hero. 

4.  Marie  Antoinette  said  to  one  of  her  ministers,  "  I 
have  a  difficult  task  which  I  wish  you  to  perform."  "  If  it 
is  only  difficult,"  was  the  diplomat's  answer,  "  it  is  already 
done;  if  it  is  impossible,  it  shall  be  done." 

6.  A  famous  cartoon  of  the  French  Revolution  represents 
the  Assembly  of  the  Notables  as  a  flock  of  barnyard  fowls 
called  together  by  the  farmer,  who  says  to  them,  "  I  have 
assembled  you  to  advise  me  with  what  sauce  you  are  to  be 
eaten."  To  this  a  cock  responds,  *'We  don't  want  to  be 
eaten  at  all,"  whereupon  the  farmer  tells  him,  "  You  wan- 
der from  the  subject." 

B.  Change  the  following  from  the  indirect  form  to 
the  direct: — 

1.  He  argued  with  his  father  that  he  did  not  see  why 
there  should  be  kings  who  were  rich  while  beggars  were 
poor;  and  why  the  king  should  have  poached  eggs  and 
plumcake  at  afternoon  tea,  while  many  other  persons  went 
without  dinner.  .  .  .  And  when  the  prince,  after  having 
his  ears  boxed,  said  that  force  was  no  argument,  the  king 
went  away  in  a  rage. 

— Andrew  Lang:  Prince  Prigio. 

2.  When  a  lady  showed  Dr.  Johnson  a  grotto  she  had 
been  making,  and  asked  him  if  it  would  not  be  a  cool  hab- 
itation in  summer,  he  replied  that  he  thought  it  would  be 
— for  a  toad. 

3.  A  very  dull  English  nobleman  once  said  that  he  would 
repeat  a  certain  joke  of  Sheridan's.  The  latter,  who  was 
present,  begged  him  not  to  do  so,  saying  that  a  joke  in  his 
mouth  was  no  laughing  matter. 


VARIETY  OF  EXPEESSION  3 

4.  Pitt,  while  discussing  French  affairs  in  1791,  re- 
marked that  England  and  the  British  Constitution  were 
safe  until  the  day  of  judgment.  Burke  replied,  that  it 
was  the  day  of  no  judgment  that  he  feared. 

5.  Prince  Prigio  was  now  called  on  to  speak.  He  ad- 
mitted that  the  reward  was  offered  for  bringing  the  horns 
and  tail,  not  for  killing  the  monster.  But  were  the  king's 
intentions  to  go  for  nothing?  When  a  subject  only  meant 
well,  of  course  he  had  to  suffer;  but  when  a  king  said  one 
thing  was  he  not  to  be  supposed  to  have  meant  another? 
Any  fellow  with  a  wagon  could  bring  the  horns  and  tail; 
the  difficult  thing  was  to  kill  the  monster.  If  Benson's 
claim  was  allowed,  the  royal  prerogative  of  saying  one  thing 
and  meaning  another  was  in  danger. 

— Andrew  Lang  :  Prince  Prigio. 


C.  In  the  following  selection,  change  the  direct  quo- 
tations to  indirect,  and  vice  versa : — 

Opposite  General  Knox's  bookshop  was  the  best  inn 
in  town  in  1776.  I  think  Howe  had  his  quarters  there;  I 
know  that  Washington  took  up  his  there,  after  his  army 
entered. 

He  took  his  landlady's  little  daughter  on  his  knee. 
"  Well,  little  lady,  you  have  seen  the  English  soldiers,  and 
now  you  see  the  Yankees — which  do  you  like  best  ?  " 

Children  are  not  good  liars,  and  on  Washington's  knee 
no  one,  I  suppose,  could  tell  an  untruth.  The  child  said 
truly  that  she  liked  the  redcoats  best. 

The  general  laughed.  "Yes,  indeed,"  he  said,  "they 
have  the  best  clothes.  But  it  takes  the  ragged  boys  to  do 
the  fighting." 

— E.  E.  Hale:  Historic  Boston, 


4    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

D.  Make  a  connected  narrative  of  the  following 
correspondence  between  Lord  Lytton  and  Lord  WaU 
pole  on  the  subject  of  the  former's  play,  "  Walpole," 
including  the  final  comment.  Use  indirect  quotation 
instead  of  the  direct  epistolary  form. 

1.  "  My  dear  Walpole : — 

Here  I  am  at  Bath — ^bored  to  death.  I  am  thinking  of 
writing  a  play  about  your  great  ancestor,  Sir  Robert.  Had 
he  not  a  sister  Lucy,  and  did  she  not  marry  a  Jacobite  ?  " 

2.  "  My  dear  Lytton : — 

I  care  little  for  my  family  and  less  for  Sir  Robert,  but 
I  know  that  he  never  had  a  sister  Lucy,  so  that  she  could 
not  have  married  a  Jacobite." 

3.  "  My  dear  Walpole  :— 

You  are  too  late!  Sir  Robert  had  a  sister  Lucy,  and 
she  did  marry  a  Jacobite." 

So,  in  defiance  of  history,  the  play  "  Walpole  "  came  to 
be  written. 

Lady  Dorothy  Nevill  :  Reminiscences. 


2.  Interrogation  and  Exclamation. 

A.     In  the  following  passages,  substitute  the  declara- 
tive for  the  interrogative  or  the  exclamatory  form: — 

Example. — We  have  been  told  that  the  age  was  friv- 
olous and  small.  How,  in  the  presence  of  these 
masters,  shall  we  deny  its  grandeur?  Where,  if 
we  remember  also  the  achievements  of  Isaac  New- 
ton, shall  we  find  its  compeer? — Spectator,  Octo- 
ber 31,  1908. 


VAEIETY  OF  EXPEESSION  6 

Eewkitten. — We  have  been  told  that  the  age  was  friv- 
olous and  small.  In  the  presence  of  these  mas- 
ters, we  cannot  deny  its  grandeur.  If  we  remem- 
ber also  the  achievements  of  Isaac  ^N^ewton,  we 
shall  find  its  compeer  nowhere. 

1.  There  are  two  ways  in  which  authors  survive;  one  by 
the  constant  reading  of  their  works,  the  other  by  their 
names.  Is  Milton  a  forgotten  author?  But  how  much  is 
he  read,  compared  with  the  contemporary  singers?  Is 
Plato  forgotten?  Yet  how  many  know  him  except  by 
name? 

— G.  W.  Curtis  :  Essays. 

2.  Which  was  the  most  splendid  spectacle  ever  witnessed 
— the  opening  feast  of  Prince  George  in  London,  or  the 
resignation  of  Washington?  Which  is  the  noble  character 
for  after  ages  to  admire — yon  fribble  dancing  in  lace  and 
spangles,  or  yonder  hero  who  sheathes  his  sword  after  a  life 
of  spotless  honor,  a  purity  unreproached,  a  courage  in- 
domitable and  a  consummate  victory?  Which  of  these  is 
the  true  gentleman? 

— Thackeray  :  George  the  Fourth. 

3.  What  manner  of  life  is  that  which  is  described  in 
these  pages,  as  the  every-day  existence  of  a  thief?  What 
charms  has  it  for  the  young  and  ill-disposed,  what  allure- 
ments for  the  most  jolter-headed  of  juveniles?  Here  are 
no  canterings  on  moonlit  heaths,  no  merrymakings  in  the 
snuggest  of  all  possible  caverns,  none  of  the  attractions 
of  dress,  .  .  .  none  of  the  dash  and  freedom  with  which 
*'the  road"  has  been,  time  out  of  mind,  invested.  The 
cold,  wet,  shelterless  midnight  streets  of  London,  the  foul 
and  frowsy  dens  where  vice  is  closely  packed  and  lacks  the 
room  to  turn ;  the  haunts  of  hunger  and  disease,  the  shabby 
rags  that  scarce  hold  together; — where  are  the  attractions 


6     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

of  these  things?  Have  they  no  lesson,  and  do  they  not 
whisper  something  beyond  the  little-regarded  warning  of 
an  abstract  moral  precept? 

— Dickens:  Preface  to  Oliver  Twist. 

4.  How  very  small  a  part  of  the  world  we  truly  live  in  is 
represented  by  what  speaks  to  us  through  the  senses,  when 
compared  with  that  vast  realm  of  the  mind  which  is  peo- 
pled by  memory  and  imagination  and  with  such  shining 
inhabitants!  These  walls,  these  faces,  what  are  they  in 
comparison  with  the  countless  images,  the  innumerable 
population  which  every  one  of  us  can  summon  up  to  the 
tiny  show-box  of  the  brain,  in  material  breadth  scarce  a 
span,  yet  infinite  as  space  and  time  ?  And  in  what,  I  pray, 
are  those  we  gravely  call  historical  characters,  of  which 
each  new  historian  strains  his  neck  to  get  a  new  and  dif- 
ferent view,  in  any  sense  more  real  than  the  personage  of 
fiction  ? 

— Lowell  :  Books  and  Libraries. 

5.  What  is  this  naturalization,  however,  but  a  sort  of 
parable  of  human  life  ?  Are  we  not  always  trying  to  adjust 
ourselves  to  new  relations,  to  get  naturalized  into  a  new 
family?  Does  one  ever  do  it  entirely?  And  how  much  of 
the  lonesomeness  of  life  comes  from  the  failure  to  do  it! 
It  is  a  tremendous  experiment,  we  all  admit,  to  separate  a 
person  from  his  race,  from  his  country,  from  his  climate, 
and  the  habits  of  his  part  of  the  country,  by  marriage ;  it  is 
only  an  experiment  differing  in  degree  to  introduce  him 
by  marriage  into  a  new  circle  of  kinsfolk.  Is  he  ever  any- 
thing but  a  sort  of  tolerated,  criticised,  or  admired  alien  ? 

— G.  W.  Curtis:  As  We  Were  Saying, 

B.  Recast  the  following  passages  in  such  a  way  as 
to  add  emphasis  hy  appropriate  use  of  the  interroga- 
tive form: — 


VAKIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  1 

Example. — Universities  arose  while  there  were  yet  no 
books  procurable;  while  a  man  for  a  single  book 
had  to  give  an  estate  of  land.  That  in  those  cir- 
cumstances, when  a  man  had  some  knowledge  to 
communicate,  he  should  do  it  by  gathering  the 
learners  round  him,  face  to  face,  was  a  necessity 
for  him.  If  you  wanted  to  know  what  Abelard 
knew,  you  must  go  and  listen  to  Abelard.  Thou- 
sands, as  many  as  thirty  thousand,  went  to  hear 
Abelard  and  that  metaphysical  theology  of  his. 
And  now  for  any  other  teacher  who  had  also  some- 
thing of  his  own  to  teach,  there  was  a  great  con- 
venience opened ;  so  many  thousands  eager  to  learn 
were  already  assembled  yonder;  of  all  places  the 
best  place  for  him  was  that.  For  any  third  teacher 
it  was  better  still ;  and  grew  ever  better,  the  more 
teachers  there  came. 

— Caelyle  :  The  Hero  as  Man  of  Letters. 

Reweitten. — Universities  arose  while  there  were  yet 
no  books  procurable ;  while  a  man  for  a  single  book 
had  to  give  an  estate  of  land.  Was  it  not  a  neces- 
sity in  those  circumstances,  that  when  a  man  had 
some  knowledge  to  communicate,  he  should  do  it 
by  gathering  the  learners  around  him  face  to  face  ? 
How  could  you  know  what  Abelard  knew  otherwise 
than  by  going  and  listening  to  Abelard?  Thou- 
sands, as  many  as  thirty  thousand,  went  to  hear 
Abelard  and  that  metaphysical  theology  of  his. 
And  now  for  any  other  teacher  who  had  also  some- 
thing of  his  own  to  teach,  was  there  not  a  great  con- 
venience opened?    So  many  thousands   eager  to 


8    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

learn  were  already  assembled  yonder ;  was  not  that 
of  all  places  the  best  place  for  him  ?  And  for  any 
third  teacher,  was  it  not  better  still,  growing  ever 
the  better  the  more  teachers  there  came  ? 

1.  I  do  assure  those  gentlemen  who  have  prayed  for  war, 
and  have  obtained  the  blessing  that  they  sought,  that  they 
are  at  this  instant  in  very  great  straits.  ...  As  yet 
they,  and  their  German  allies  of  twenty  hireling  states, 
have  contended  only  with  the  unprepared  strength  of  our 
own  infant  colonies.  But  America  is  not  subdued.  Not 
one  unattacked  village  which  was  originally  adverse 
throughout  that  vast  continent  has  yet  submitted  from  love 
or  terror.  You  have  the  ground  you  encamp  on;  and  you 
have  no  more. 

— ^BuRKE :  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol. 

2.  If  we  think  of  it,  all  that  a  university,  or  final  highest 
school  can  do  for  us,  is  still  but  what  the  first  school 
began  doing — teach  us  to  read.  We  learn  to  read  in 
various  languages,  in  various  sciences;  we  learn  the  alpha- 
bet and  letters  of  all  manner  of  books.  But  the  place 
where  we  are  to  get  knowledge,  even  theoretic  knowledge, 
is  the  books  themselves!  It  depends  on  what  we  read, 
after  aU  manner  of  professors  have  done  their  best  for  us. 

— Carlyle  :  The  Hero  as  Man  of  Letters, 


3.  Variety  of  Diction 

A.     Recast  each  of  the  following  statements  in  at  least 
two  ways,  varying  the  wording  as  much  as  possible: — 

Example. — "  The  storm,  however,  beat  idly  on  the  ob- 
stinacy of  the  King  " — may  be  recast  as  follows : — 


VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSIOlSr  9 

(a)  The  King^  however,  was  not  to  be  shaken  by  the 
fierceness  of  the  opposition  he  had  to  encounter. 

(b)  The  fixity  of  the  King's  purpose  was,  however, 
in  no  way  changed  by  the  attack. 

1.  No  man  ignorant  of  history  can  govern. 

2.  The  terror  of  death  was  powerless  against  men  like 
these. 

3.  They  take  their  statesmen  at  their  word,  and  refuse 
to  believe  that  they  mean  mischief. 

4.  Precise  rules  cannot  be  laid  down  which  will  meet  all 
cases. 

5.  It  is  far  easier  to  acquire  facts  than  to  judge  what 
they  prove. 

6.  If  we  keep  our  Indian  Empire,  we  shall  keep  it  by 
sweeping  our  brain  clear  of  dreams. 

7.  We  have  to  consider  the  million,  not  the  units,  the 
average,  not  the  exceptions. 

8.  Labor  is  the  inevitable  lot  of  the  majority,  and  the 
best  education  is  that  which  will  make  their  labor  most 
productive. 

9.  After  planting  the  banner  of  King  George  on  the 
ruins  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  Captain  Washington  sheathed  his 
sword  and  retired  to  private  life. 

10.  The  contributions  of  the  scholars  to  the  common- 
wealth were  not  appreciable  in  money,  and  were  not  re- 
warded with  money. 

B.  Substitute  equivalent  expressions  for  the  itali- 
cized terms, 

1.  Not  only  in  the  court,  but  in  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, from  the  episcopal  bench  and  from  the  pulpits  of  the 


10    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

church-party,  there  were  promulgated  doctrines  of  the  most 
dangerous  kind. 

— Buckle. 

2.  In  the  notion  of  sovereignty  they  found  inherent  the 
notion  of  an  indefeasible  right  to  impose  and  exact  taxes. 

— John  Morley. 

3.  Exempt  from  his  defects  and  irregularities,  Burke 
wanted  the  suavity  of  Fox's  manner,  his  amenity  and  his 
placability. 

— Wraxall:  Memoirs. 

4.  Public  calamity  is  a  mighty  leveler,  and  there  are 
occasions  when  the  slightest  chance  of  doing  good  must  be 
laid  hold  on  even  by  the  most  inconsiderable  person. 

— Burke. 

5.  Neither  was  the  meanest  peasant  so  much  below  the 
grandeur  and  the  sorrow  of  the  times  as  to  confound  bat- 
tles such  as  these  which  were  gradually  moulding  the  des- 
tinies of  Christendom  with  the  vulgar  conflicts  of  ordinary 
warfare,  so  often  no  more  than  gladiatorial  trials  of  na- 
tional prowess. 

— De  Quincey. 

6.  Having  received  ordination  at  Easter,  I  have  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  distinguished  by  the  patronage  of  the 
Right  Hon.  Lady  Catherine  de  Bourgh,  whose  bounty  and 
beneficence  has  preferred  me  to  the  valuable  rectory  of  this 
parish,  where  it  shall  be  my  earnest  endeavour  to  demean 
myself  with  grateful  respect  towards  her  Ladyship. 

— Jane  Austen. 

7.  The  affairs  of  the  antediluvian  world  lay  in  a  nar- 
rower compass,  their  libraries  were  indifferently  furnished, 
philosophical  researches  were  carried  on  with  much  less 
industry  and  acuteness  of  penetration. 

— Cowper:  Letters, 

8.  The  increase  of  political  liberty,  the  abolition  of  law 


VAEIETY  OF  EXPKESSION  11 

restricting  individual  action,  and  the  amelioration  of  the 
criminal  code,  have  been  accompanied  by  a  hindred  prog- 
ress towards  non-coercive  education. 

— Herbert  Spencer. 

9.  As  soon  as  these  arrangements  were  made,  he  no 
longer  deferred  the  execution  of  his  project,  which  he 
hastened  from  a  consideration  of  what  the  world  suffered 
from  his  delay;  so  many  were  the  grievances  he  intended 
to  redress,  the  wrongs  to  rectify,  errors  to  amend,  abuses  to 
reform,  and  debts  to  discharge. 

— Don  Quixote;  Trans.  C.  Jarvis. 

10.  Some  parents  are  so  hoodwinked  by  their  excessive 
fondness  that  they  see  not  the  imperfections  of  their  chil- 
dren, and  mistake  their  folly  and  impertinence  for  spright- 
liness  and  wit;  but  I,  who  though  seeming  the  parent,  am 
in  truth  only  the  step-father  of  Don  Quixote,  will  not  yield 
to  this  prevailing  infirmity. 

— Preface  to  same. 


*  C.  Rewrite,  avoiding,  as  much  as  possible,  the  use 
of  words  of  Latin  origin, 

1.  That  public  virtue,  which  among  the  ancients  was 
denominated  patriotism,  is  derived  from  a  strong  sense  of 
our  own  interest  in  the  preservation  and  prosperity  of  the 
free  government  of  which  we  are  members.  Such  a  senti- 
ment, which  has  rendered  the  legions  of  the  republic 
almost  invincible,  could  make  but  a  very  feeble  impression 
on  the  mercenary  servants  of  a  despotic  prince,  and  it  be- 
came necessary  to  supply  that  defect  by  other  motives,  of  a 
different  but  not  less  forcible  nature — honour  and  religion. 
The  peasant  or  mechanic  imbibed  the  useful  prejudice  that 
he  was  advanced  to  the  more  dignified  profession  of  arms, 


12    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

in  which  his  rank  and  reputation  would  depend  on  his 
own  valor,  and  that,  although  the  prowess  of  a  private 
soldier  must  often  escape  the  notice  of  fame,  his  own 
behaviour  might  sometimes  confer  glory  or  disgrace  on  the 
company,  the  legion,  or  even  the  army,  to  whose  honours 
he  was  associated.  He  promised  never  to  desert  his  stand- 
ard, to  submit  his  own  will  to  the  commands  of  his  lead- 
ers, and  to  sacrifice  his  life  to  the  safety  of  the  empire. 
.  .  .  Regular  pay,  occasional  donatives,  and  a  stated  re- 
compense, after  the  appointed  term  of  service,  alleviated 
the  hardships  of  the  military  life,  whilst  on  the  other  hand 
it  was  impossible  for  cowardice  or  disobedience  to  escape 
the  severest  punishment. 

— Gibbon  :  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
2.  It  will  not  be  easy  to  find,  in  all  the  opulence  of  our 
language,  a  treatise  so  artfully  variegated  with  successive 
representations  of  opposite  probabilities,  so  enlivened  with 
imagery,  so  brightened  with  illustrations.  His  portraits  of 
the  English  dramatists  are  wrought  with  great  spirit  and 
diligence.  The  account  of  Shakespeare  may  stand  as  a  per- 
petual model  of  encomiastic  criticism;  exact  without 
minuteness,  and  lofty  without  exaggeration.  The  praise 
lavished  by  Longinus  on  the  attestation  of  the  heroes  of 
Marathon  by  Demosthenes  fades  away  before  it.  In  a  few 
lines  is  exhibited  a  character  so  extensive  in  its  comprehen- 
sion, and  so  curious  in  its  limitations,  that  nothing  can  be 
added,  diminished  or  reformed;  nor  can  the  editors  and 
admirers  of  Shakespeare,  in  all  their  emulation  of  rever- 
ence, boast  of  much  more  than  of  having  diffused  and  par- 
aphrased this  epitome  of  excellence,  of  having  changed 
Dryden's  gold  for  baser  metal  of  lower  value,  though  of 
greater  bulk. 

— Johnson  :  Life  of  Dryden, 


VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  13 

D.  Give  in  modern  English  the  substance  of  the 
following  quotations  from  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
century  writers: — 

Example. — The  well-known  passage  from  Bacon's  essay 
"  On  Studies/'  "  Crafty  men  contemn  studies,  sim- 
ple men  admire  them,  and  wise  men  use  them. 
For  they  teach  not  their  own  use,  hut  that  is  a  wis- 
dom without  them  and  above  them,  won  by  observa- 
tion,"— may  be  recast  in  this  way :  ^^  Learning  is 
not  unfrequently  despised  by  the  clever,  practical 
man;  it  is  regarded  with  childish  wonder  by  the 
foolish,  but  it  is  truly  appreciated  only  by  the  wise. 
For  learning  does  not  teach  its  possessor  how  to 
employ  it ;  the  power  to  do  this  aright  is  a  higher 
attainment  than  any  scholarship,  and  can  only 
come  by  thinking  and  observing." 

— Quoted  from  Sir  Joshua  Fitch  :  Lectures  on 
Teaching, 

1.  It  fortuned  that  as  Macbeth  and  Banquo  journeyed 
towards  Torres,  where  the  king  then  lay,  they  went  sport- 
ing by  the  way  together  without  other  company  save  only 
themselves,  passing  through  the  woods  and  fields,  when 
suddenly  in  the  midst  of  a  land,  there  met  them  three 
women  in  strange  and  wild  apparel,  resembling  creatures 
of  the  elder  world,  whom  when  they  attentively  beheld, 
wondering  much  at  the  sight,  the  first  of  them  spake  and 
said : — 

"  All  hail,  Macbeth,  thane  of  Glamis ! "  (for  he  had 
lately  entered  into  that  office  by  the  death  of  his  father 
Sinel). 

2.  He  hazardeth  sore  that  waxeth  wise  by  experience. 


14     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

An  unhappy  master  is  he  that  is  made  cunning  by  many 
shipwrecks;  a  miserable  merchant,  that  is  neither  rich  nor 
wise  but  after  some  bankrupts.  .  .  .  We  know  by  expe- 
rience itself  that  it  is  a  marvellous  pain  to  find  out  but 
a  short  way  by  long  wandering. 

3.  And  in  all  experience  and  stories  you  will  find  that 
three  things  that  prepare  and  dispose  an  estate  to  war: 
the  ambition  of  governors,  a  state  of  soldiers  professed, 
and  the  hard  means  to  live  of  many  subjects.  Whereof 
the  last  is  the  most  forcible  and  the  most  constant. 


*  E.     Rewrite  as  in  the  preceding  exercise, 

1.  Some  man,  if  he  be  sick,  can  away  with  no  wholesome 
meat,  nor  no  medicine  can  go  down  with  him,  but  if  it  be 
tempered  with  some  such  thing  for  his  fantasy  as  maketh 
the  meat  or  the  medicine  less  wholesome  than  it  should  be. 
And  yet  while  it  will  be  no  better,  we  must  let  him  have 
it  so. 

2.  Repulse  and  disgrace  are  two  main  causes  of  discon- 
tent, but  to  an  understanding  man,  not  so  hardly  to  be 
taken.  Caesar  himself  hath  been  denied,  and  when  two 
stand  equal  in  fortune,  birth,  and  all  other  qualities  alike, 
one  of  necessity  must  lose.  Why  shouldst  thou  take  it  so 
grievously  ? 

3.  And  certainly,  as  fame  hath  often  been  dangerous  to 
the  living,  so  is  it  to  the  dead  of  no  use  at  all ;  because  sep- 
arate from  knowledge.  Which  were  it  otherwise,  and  the 
extreme  ill  bargain  of  buying  this  lasting  discourse,  under- 
stood by  them  which  are  dissolved;  they  themselves  would 
then  rather  have  wished  to  have  stolen  out  of  the  world 
without  noise,  than  to  be  put  in  mind  that  they  have  pur- 
chased the  report  of  their  actions  in  the  world  by  giving 


VAEIETY  OF  EXPRESSIOlSr  15 

in  spoil  the  inDocent  and  laboring  soul  to  the  idle  and 
insolent. 

4.  Simplicity  of  Expression 

A.  Give  hriefly  and  simply  the  substance  of  the  let- 
ter quoted  below. 

Example. — The  fact  stated  in  the  words :  "  Disease 
gloomed,  and  made  long  my  wintry  and  vernal 
hours  since  I  had  the  honour  and  delight  of  con- 
versing with  you  in  Warwickshire ''  (the  opening 
sentence  of  a  letter  from  Miss  Seward,  the  ^^  Swan 
of  Lichfield,"  to  Dr.  Parr),  might  have  been  put 
as  follows :  "  Since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
you  in  Warwickshire,  I  have  had  a  tedious  illness 
which  lasted  through  the  winter  and  spring." 

Letter  dictated  to  his  pupils  by  Dr.  Grimstone,  the 
master  of  Crichton  House  Academy : — 

"  My  dear  parents  (or  parent,  according  to  circum- 
stances) comma,"  (all  of  which  several  took  down  most 
industriously) — 

"  You  will  be  rejoiced  to  hear  that,  having  arrived 
with  safety  at  our  destination,  we  have  by  this  time 
fully  resumed  our  customary  regular  round  of  earnest 
work  relieved  and  sweetened  by  hearty  play."  ("  Have 
you  all  got  ^  hearty  play  '  down  ?  "  inquired  the  Doctor 
rather  suspiciously,  while  Jolland  observed  in  an  under- 
tone that  it  would  take  some  time  to  get  that  down.) 
"  I  hope,  I  trust,  I  may  say  without  undue  conceit,  to 
have  made  considerable  progress  in  my  school-tasks  be- 
fore I  rejoin  the  family  circle  for  the  Easter  vacation, 


16    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

as  I  think  you  will  admit  when  I  inform  you  of  the 
program  we  intend  "  ("  D.  V.  in  brackets  and  capital 
letters  " — as  before,  this  was  taken  down  by  Jolland, 
who  probably  knew  very  much  better)  "  .  .  .to  work 
out  during  the  term. 

In  Latin,  the  class  of  which  I  am  a  member  propose 
to  thoroughly  master  the  first  book  of  Virgil's  magnifi- 
cent Epic,  need  I  say  I  refer  to  the  soul-moving  story 
of  the  Pious  ^neas?"  (Jolland  was  understood  by 
his  near  neighbor  to  remark  that  he  thought  the  explana- 
tion distinctly  advisable),  "whilst,  in  Greek,  we  have 
already  commenced  the  thrilling  account  of  the  Anab- 
asis of  Xenophon,  that  master  of  strategy!  nor  shall 
we,  of  course,  neglect  in  either  branch  of  study  the 
syntax  and  construction  of  those  two  noble  lan- 
guages.  .    .    . 

In  German,  under  the  able  tutelage  of  Herr  Stoh- 
wasser,  who,  as  I  may  possibly  have  mentioned  to  you 
in  casual  conversation,  is  a  graduate  of  the  University 
of  Heidelberg,  ...  we  have  resigned  ourselves  to  the 
spell  of  the  Teutonian  Shakespeare  "  (there  was  much 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  manner  of  spelling 
"  Teutonian  Shakespeare  ")  "  as,  in  my  opinion  Schiller 
may  be,  not  inaptly  termed,  and  our  French  studies 
comprise  such  exercises,  and  short  poems  and  tales  as 
are  best  calculated  to  afford  an  insight  into  the  intri- 
cacies of  the  Gallic  tongue. 

But  I  would  not  have  you  imagine,  my  dear  parents 
(or  parent,  as  before),  that,  because  the  claims  of  the 
intellect  have  been  thus  amply  provided  for,  the  re- 
quirements of  the  body  are  necessarily  overlooked!     I 


VAKIETY  OF  EXPEESSION  17 

have  no  intention  of  becoming  a  mere  bookworm,  and, 
on  the  contrary,  we  have  had  one  excessively  brisk  and 
pleasant  game  of  football  already  this  season,  and 
should,  but  for  the  unfortunate  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  have  engaged  again  this  afternoon  in  the 
mimic  warfare.    .    .    . 

I  fear  I  must  now  relinquish  my  pen,  as  the  time 
allotted  for  correspondence  is  fast  waning  to  its  close, 
and  tea-time  is  approaching.  Pray  give  my  kindest  re- 
membrances to  all  my  numerous  friends  and  relatives, 
and  accept  my  fondest  love  and  affection  for  yourselves 
and  the  various  other  members  of  the  family  circle. 

I  am,  I  am  rejoiced  to  say,  in  the  enjoyment  of  excel- 
lent health,  and  surrounded  as  I  am  by  congenial  com- 
panions, and  employed  in  interesting  and  agreeable 
pursuits,  it  is  superfluous  to  add  that  I  am  happy. 

And  now,  my  dear  parents,  believe  me  your  dutiful 
and  affectionate  son,  so  and  so.  .  .  ." 

— F.  Anstey:  Vice  Versa, 


B.  The  possibilities  of  Dr.  Grimstone's  letter-writ- 
ing style  are  suggested  by  the  subjoined  specimens  of 
"  Desultory  Reflections,"  quoted  from  Punch  by  Ed- 
ward FitzGerald  in  "  Polonius." 

Give  the  "  Reflections  "  in  their  more  familiar  form. 

1.  Iniquitous  intercourses  contaminate  proper  habits. 

2.  One  individual  may  pilfer  a  quadruped,  where  another 
may  not  cast  his  eyes  over  the  boundary  of  a  field. 

3.  In  the  absence  of  the  feline  race,  the  mice  give  them- 
selves up  to  various  pastimes. 


18    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

4.  Feathered  bipeds  of  advanced  age  are  not  to  be  en- 
trapped with  the  outer  husks  of  corn. 

5.  More  confectioners  than  are  absolutely  necessary  are 
apt  to  ruin  the  potage, 

5.  Euphemisms 

Euphemism — a  softened  or  an  indirect  statement  of 
an  unpleasant  truth. 

Restate  the  following  so  as  to  bring  out  their  literal 
meaning : — 

1.  She  was  but  modestly  addicted  to  her  books. 

2.  The  Sahib  shot  divinely,  but  God  was  very  merciful 
to  the  birds.  (An  East  Indian  servant's  answer  to  the  in- 
quiry whether  his  master  had  had  a  successful  day's  sport.) 

3.  The  last  days  of  this  great  monarch  (Henry  VIII) 
were  clouded  by  domestic  difficulties.  (Quoted  by  Mr. 
Bryce  in  a  note  to  his  essay  on  J.  R.  Green.) 

4.  James  Payn  said  that  his  gift  for  mathematics  con- 
sisted mainly  of  a  distaste  for  the  classics. 

5.  Years  have  made  very  little  impression  on  him,  either 
by  wrinkles  on  his  forehead,  or  traces  in  his  brain. 

6.  His  hands  seemed  unused  to  the  flimsy  artifices  of  the 
bath. 

7.  Mrs.  Primrose  could  read  any  English  book  without 
much  spelling. 

8.  His  sense  of  meum  and  tuum  was  imperfectly  devel- 
oped. 

9.  He  depended  upon  his  imagination  for  his  facts. 

10.  He  was  full  of  precaution  against  real  or  imaginary 
dangers. 

11.  He  was  conspicuously  free  from  shyness. 

12.  It  is  a  mode  of  travel  to  be  recommended  rather  to 
the  inquiring  than  to  the  fastidious  mind. 


VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  Id 

6.  Use  of  Single  Words  to  Secure  Brevity 
Substitute  a  single  word  for  the  italicized  expressions, 

A.  1.  "Waverley/'   Scott's   first  prose   romance,   was 
published  without  the  author's  name. 

2.  Horace  Greeley  wrote  a  hand  that  was  almost  impoS' 
sible  to  read. 

3.  Achilles'  mother  dipped  him  into  the  river  Sty:x,  in 
order  to  render  him  incapable  of  being  wounded. 

4.  The  English  language  contains  many  pairs  of  words 
having  the  same  meaning. 

5.  The  story  of  the  Nibelungen  treasure  is  one  of  the 
best-known  legends  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

6.  Milton's  "  Lycidas  "  is  a  famous  poem  lamenting  the 
death  of  a  friend. 

7.  Swallows  move  from  one  latitude  to  another  with  ex- 
traordinary rapidity  and  regularity. 

8.  Pope's  early  poems  were  descriptive  of  country  life. 

9.  Tantalus  was  tormented  by  a  hunger  and  thirst  that 
could  never  be  satisfied. 

10.  Thackeray  was  a  writer  who  ridiculed  the  follies  of 
mankind. 

B.  1.  Burke  tried  to  bring  about  a  renewal  of  the 
friendly  feeling  between  England  and  the  colonies. 

2.  It  was  an  accident  which  could  not  have  been  pre^ 
vented. 

3.  It  is  probable  that  Joan  of  Arc  will  soon  be  enrolled 
in  the  official  catalogue  of  saints. 

4.  The  head  of  the  military  college  was  an  exceedingly 
strict  disciplinarian. 

5.  Addison  tells  us  that  the   Spectator,  from  earliest 
youth,  was  remarkable  for  being  habitually  silent. 


20     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

6.  Columbus's  plan  to  reach  the  Indies  by  sailing  west- 
ward seemed  quite  incapable  of  accomplishment  to  the  nav- 
igators of  his  day. 

7.  "  Weir  of  Hermiston/'  the  unfinished  novel  by  Steven- 
son, was  published  after  the  author's  death. 

8.  Wolfe's  victory  at  Quebec  meant  to  the  French  a  loss 
that  could  never  he  m^ade  up. 

9.  Most  practical  philosophers  are  believers  in  the  doc- 
trine that  good  is  stronger  than  evil. 

10.  Many  beautiful  melodies  lose  their  charm  for  us 
when  they  become  familiar  through  frequent  repetition. 

C.  1.  A  government  in  which  the  ruler  has  absolute 
power  no  longer  prevails  in  Turkey. 

2.  The  Continental  Congress  made  an  enemy  of  Arnold 
by  charging  him  with  dishonest  practices. 

3.  Richard  Cromwell  succeeded  his  father  as  Protector, 
but  soon  proved  himself  quite  unfit  for  the  responsibilities 
of  the  office. 

4.  The  work  of  Thackeray  was  not  estimated  at  its  true 
value  until  "  Vanity  Fair  "  appeared. 

5.  Dickens  won  the  admiration  of  the  public  very  early 
in  his  career. 

6.  Burke  said  that  none  of  the  American  colonists  were 
without  at  least  a  slight  and  superficial  knowledge  of  law. 

7.  When  George  III  became  incapable  of  governing, 
Parliament  appointed  the  Prince  of  Wales  ruler  in  place  of 
the  king. 

8.  During  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary,  many  of  the 
oppressive  laws  affecting  those  not  holding  the  doctrines 
of  the  Established  Church  were  repealed. 

9.  A  white  flag  in  warfare  is  the  sign  of  temporary  ces- 
sation  of  hostilities. 

10.  Thackeray's  "  Novels  by  Eminent  Hands  "  are  hur^ 


VAEIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  21 

Usque  imitations  of  the  style  of  famous  nineteenth-century 
novelists. 

D.  1.  The  percentage  of  persons  unable  to  read  and 
write  is  much  lower  in  northern  than  in  southern  Europe. 

2.  The  bitterness  expressed  in  "  Gulliver's  Travels  "  war- 
rants the  reader  in  believing  that  Swift  was  a  hater  of 
mankind, 

3.  Lord  Shaftesbury,  the  great  lover  and  benefactor  of 
mankind,  was  largely  responsible  for  the  reform  of  English 
factory  legislation. 

4.  A  common  Roman  inscription  upon  a  tombstone  was 
the  phrase,  "  Bene  merenti,"  "  To  one  who  has  deserved 
well." 

5.  Thackeray  represents  Steele  as  being  a  spendthrift 
who  was  quite  incapable  of  being  reformed. 

6.  In  modern  plays,  the  plot  is  seldom  explained  by 
means  of  speeches  uttered  by  the  characters  when  alone. 

7.  "  Alice  in  Wonderland  "  is  probably  the  most  popular 
of  all  books  intended  for  young  people. 

8.  Burke  said  that  the  discussion  whether  or  not  Eng- 
land had  a  right  to  tax  the  colonies  was  quite  unrelated 
to  the  point  at  issue. 

9.  Macaulay's  essays  are  written  from  the  standpoint  of 
a  person  who  is  earnestly  devoted  to  his  party. 

10.  Washington  was  elected  president  without  a  single 
opposing  vote. 

7.  Specific  Words 

A.    Give  five  specific  words  describing  or  suggesting : — 

1.  The  sound  or  motion  of  running  water. 

2.  The  quality  of  a  voice. 

3.  A  person's  gait. 


22     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

4.  The  giving  forth  of  light. 

5.  The  giving  forth  of  heat. 

6.  A  disturbance. 

7.  Air  in  motion. 

8.  Fear. 

9.  The  notes  of  birds. 

10.  Wintry  weather. 

Example. — Specific  words  describing  the  flights  of 
birds, — circling,  swooping,  wheeling,  darting,  flut- 
tering. 

B.  Give  five  nouns  to  which  the  following  adjectives 
may  he  applied  in  other  than  the  strictly  literal  sense: — 

Example. — The  adjective  "  sharp  "  which,  in  its  lit- 
eral use,  suggests  an  appeal  to  the  sense  of  touch 
may  be  used  in  the  following  connections: — A 
sharp  rebuke,  a  sharp  tongue,  a  sharp  eye,  sharp 
work,  sharp  practice. 

Bitter.       Bright.      Brilliant.        Deep.  Strong. 

Keen.        Sorry.        Happy.  Heavy.       Cold. 

C.  Find  five  nouns  to  which  the  following  adjec- 
tives may  he  correctly  applied,  avoiding  such  careless 
usage  as  *'  a  grand  time/'  "  an  elegant  performance," 
" a  nice  day"  etc. 

Grand.    Elegant.    Nice.    Awful.    Exquisite. 

D.  Suhstitute  specific  words  for  the  words  enclosed 
in  parentheses  in  the  following  sentences: — 

Example. — Here  I  can  (walk)  for  hours  .  .  .  think- 
ing to  (go)  off  into  some  less  trodden  path,  yet  hes- 


VARIETY  OF  EXPEESSION  23 

itating  to  (leave)  the  one  I  am  in,  afraid  to  (break) 
the  brittle  threads  of  memory. 
Reweitten. — Here  I  can  saunter  for  hours  .  .  . 
thinking  to  strike  off  into  some  less  trodden  path, 
yet  hesitating  to  quit  the  one  I  am  in,  afraid  to 
snap  the  brittle  threads  of  memory. 

— Hazlitt  :  Sketches, 

1.  Her  enthusiasm  (led)  the  hesitating  generals  to  en- 
gage the  (small  number)  of  besiegers,  and  the  (great)  dis- 
proportion of  forces  at  once  made  itself  felt. 

2.  The  sword  of  the  Spaniard  was  (made)  in  the  gold 
mines  of  (South  America). 

3.  (Sad)  voices,  the  (noise)  of  chains,  and  the  (going) 
of  many  feet  to  and  fro  are  heard  through  the  darkness. 

4.  The  (sound)  of  human  voices  was  soon  augmented 
and  the  (light)  of  torches  soon  appeared  amid  the  (dark- 
ness) of  the  storm. 

5.  Of  the  poets  lodged  in  their  (poor)  (dwellings), 
working  often  enough  amid  (hunger),  darkness,  (noise), 
dust,  and  desolation,  I  say  nothing. 

6.  The  (worn)  tapestry,  the  (old)  shelves,  the  large  and 
clumsy,  yet  tottering,  tables,  chairs,  and  desks,  the  (neg- 
lected) grate,  intimated  the  (disregard)  of  the  lords  of  the 
Hall  for  learning. 

7.  The  door  stands  ajar,  and  out  of  it  (comes)  a  hand 
(holding)  a  torch — a  (very)  impressive  device. 

8.  At  first  we  (hurry)  past  suburban  houses,  with  their 
(poor)  little  gardens,  all  (wet)  with  recent  rain,  in  which 
marigolds  are  beginning  to  (grow). 

9.  There  was  a  (pleasant)  sensation  of  mingled  security 
and  awe  with  which  I  looked  down  from  my  (great)  height, 
upon  the  (creatures)  of  the  deep  at  their  (strange)  gam- 
bols. 


24     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

10.  A  (number)  of  boys  and  girls  came  up  from  the 
place  of  execution,  grouping  themselves  with  many  a  (cry) 
of  (pleasure)  round  a  tall  female  (curiously)  dressed. 

E.     As  in  the  preceding  exercise. 

1.  Between  the  black,  worm-eaten  headlands  there  are 
little  (places)  well  (kept)  from  the  wind  and  the  (stir) 
of  the  external  sea,  where  the  sand  and  weeds  look  up  into 
the  gazer's  face  from  a  depth  of  (still)  water,  and  the 
(birds),  (flying)  and  (chirping)  from  the  ruined  (rocks) 
alone  disturb  the  (quiet)  and  the  (brightness). 

— Adapted  from  Stevenson :  On  the  Enjoyment  of 
Unpleasant  Places. 

2.  The  shore  was  (beaten)  by  previous  tempests;  I  had 
the  memory  at  heart  of  the  (foolish)  strife  of  the  pigmies 
who  had  erected  these  two  castles  and  lived  in  them  in 
mutual  distrust  and  (unfriendliness),  and  knew  I  had 
only  to  put  my  head  out  of  this  little  (spot)  of  shelter  to 
find  the  (strong)  wind  blowing  in  my  eyes,  and  yet  there 
were  the  two  great  (spaces)  of  (still)  blue  air  and  (quiet) 
sea  looking  on,  unconcerned  and  (apart),  at  the  (disturb- 
ance) of  the  present  moment,  and  the  memorials  of  the 
precarious  past. 

— The  same, 

3.  The  woods  by  night  in  all  their  (strange)  effect,  are 
not  rightly  to  be  understood  until  you  can  compare  them 
with  the  woods  by  day.  The  (quiet)  of  the  medium,  the 
floor  of  (shining)  sand,  these  trees  that  go  streaming  up 
like  (great)  sea- weeds  and  (move)  in  the  winds  like  the 
weeds  in  submarine  currents,  all  these  set  the  mind  work- 
ing on  the  thought  of  what  you  may  have  seen  off  a  fore- 
land or  over  the  side  of  a  boat,  and  make  you  feel  like  a 
diver,  down  in  the  quiet  water,  (far)  below  the  (moving) 


VAEIETY  OF  EXPEESSION  26 

transitory  surface  of  the  sea.  And  yet  in  itself,  as  I  say, 
the  (strangeness)  of  the  nocturnal  solitudes  is  not  to  be 
felt  fully  without  the  sense  of  (difference).  You  must 
have  risen  in  the  morning,  and  seen  the  woods  as  they  are 
by  day,  kindled  and  colored  in  the  sun's  light;  you  must 
have  felt  the  odor  of  (many)  trees  at  even,  the  (great) 
heat  along  the  forest  roads,  and  the  coolness  of  the  groves. 
— Adapted  from  Stevenson:  Forest  Notes. 

*  8.  Generalizing  from  Specific  Expressions 

Express  the  ideas  conveyed  in  the  following  sen- 
tences, making  the  statements  general  instead  of  spe- 
cific:— 

Example. — The  idea  conveyed  in  "  Men  at  this  time 
made  more  account  of  a  story  from  Boccaccio  than 
of  a  story  from  the  Bible"  (J.  K.  Green)  may 
be  expressed  in  general  terms  as  follows :  ^'  Men  at 
this  time  cared  more  for  profane  than  for  sacred 
literature.'* 

1.  Macaulay  would  read  a  hundred  books  to  write  a  sen- 
tence; he  would  travel  twenty  miles  for  a  single  line  of 
description. 

— Thackeray. 

2.  You  can  never  teach  eitljer  oak  or  beech 
To  be  aught  but  a  greenwood  tree. 

— Peacock. 

3.  It  is  settled  that  Juliet  shall  study;  but  shall  she 
study  with  Romeo? 

— G.  W.  Curtis. 

4.  Coleridge  wanted  better  bread  than  could  be  made  of 
wheat. 


26     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

5.  Augustus  boasted  that  he  had  found  Rome  brick  and 
left  it  marble. 

6.  Charles  X  said  that  he  had  the  choice  between  mount- 
ing a  horse  and  mounting  a  tumbril. 

7.  "  Take  care  that  your  northern  laurels  do  not  turn  to 
southern  willows/'  was  General  Gates's  warning  to  General 
Greene. 

8.  Goldsmith  said  of  Johnson  that  he  had  nothing  of 
the  bear  but  his  skin. 

9.  The  three  R's,  if  no  industrial  training  has  gone 
along  with  them,  are  apt,  as  Miss  Nightingale  observes,  to 
produce  a  fourth  R  of  rascality. 

— Froude. 

10.  In  these  bad  days  .  .  .  it  is  considered  more  edu- 
cationally useful  to  know  the  principle  of  the  common 
pump  than  Keats's  "  Ode  to  a  Grecian  urn." 

— A.  BiREELL. 

g.  Choice  of  Expression 

A.  Tell,  in  each  case,  which  of  the  expressions  en- 
closed in  parentheses  is  preferable,  and  give  your  rea- 
sons. 

1.  Goguelat  and  Choiseul  are  (hurrying)  (plunging) 
through  morasses,  over  cliffs,  over  stock  and  stone,  in  the 
(shaggy)  (thick)  woods  of  the  Clermontais;  by  tracks,  or 
trackless,  with  guides:  hussars  (tumbling)  (falling)  into 
pitfalls  and  lying  swooned  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  the 
rest  refusing  to  march  without  them.  .  .  .  Thus  they  go 
plunging;  (startle)  (rustle)  the  owlet  from  his  (branchy 
nest)  (nest  in  the  trees) ;  (eat)  (champ)  the  sweet-scented 
forest  herb,  queen-of-the-meadows  spilling  her  spikenard; 
and  frighten  the  ear  of  Night.  But  hark !  towards  twelve 
o'clock,  .    .    .  sound  of  the  tocsin  from  Varennes  ?   ( Stop- 


VAEIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  27 

ping)  (checking  bridle),  the  hussar  officer  listens:  "  Some 
fire  undoubtedly !  " — yet  rides  on,  with  double  (haste) 
(breathlessness)  to  verify. 

— Carlyle:  French  Revolution, 

2.  Sandre  could  mark  these  things  as  he  .  .  .  went 
up  a  narrow  street  among  the  (quiet)  (sleeping)  houses. 
The  day  held  (golden)  (bright)  promise;  it  was  the  day 
of  his  life.  Meanwhile  the  mist  (was  close  about)  (clung 
to)  him  and  (nipped)  (chilled)  him;  what  had  fate  in 
store?  In  the  Piazza  Santo  Spirito,  (dim)  (grey)  and 
hollow-sounding  in  the  chilly  silences,  his  own  footsteps 
echoed  solemnly  as  he  passed  by  the  door  of  the  great 
ragged  Church.  Through  the  heavy  darkness  within,  lights 
(flickered)  (shone)  faintly  and  went:  service  was  not  be- 
gun. A  (dull)  (drab)  (group)  (crew)  of  cripples  (hung 
about)  (lounged  on)  the  steps,  yawning  and  shivering, 
and  two  country  girls  were  (walking)  (strolling)  to  the 
mass  with  brown  arms  round  each  other's  waists. 

— Maurice  Hewlett:  Quattrocentisteria. 

3.  A  (line)  (belt)  of  rhododendrons  grew  close  down  to 
one  side  of  our  pond,  and  along  the  edge  of  it  many  things 
(flourished  rankly)  (sprang  up  luxuriantly).  If  you  crept 
through  the  undergrowth  and  crouched  by  the  water's  rim, 
it  was  easy — if  your  imagination  was  in  (good)  (healthy) 
working  order,  to  transport  yourself  (promptly)  (in  a 
trice)  to  the  (heart)  (middle)  of  a  tropical  forest.  Over- 
head the  monkeys  chattered,  parrots  (flew)  (flashed)  from 
bough  to  bough,  strange  large  blossoms  (bloomed)  (shone) 
around  you,  and  the  (motion  and  sound)  (push  and  rustle) 
of  great  beasts  moving  unseen  thrilled  you  (delightfully) 
(deliciously).  And  if  you  lay  down  (with  your  nose  an 
inch  or  two  from)  (near)  the  water,  it  was  not  long  ere  the 
old  sense  of  proportion  vanished  (clean)  (quite)  away. 
The   (shining)    (glittering)   insects  that   (flew)    (darted) 


28    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

to  and  fro  on  its  surface  became  (fierce  sea-monsters)  (sea- 
monsters  dire),  the  gnats  that  hung  above  them  (swelled) 
(grew)  to  albatrosses,  and  the  pond  itself  stretched  out  into 
a  (great)  (vast)  inland  sea,  whereon  a  navy  might  (float) 
(ride)  secure,  and  whence  at  any  moment  the  (hairy  scalp) 
(grotesque  head)  of  a  (strslnge  sea-creature)  (sea-serpent) 
might  be  seen  to  emerge. 

— Kenneth  Grahame:  The  Golden  Age,^ 

4.  There  was  no  longer  any  (alarm)  (concern)  for  the 
tackle,  and  it  was  but  to  (throw)  (cast)  the  fly  upon  the 
river,  near  or  far,  for  a  trout  instantly  to  (seize)  (take)  it. 
There  was  no  (shy)  (timid)  rising  where  suspicion  (re- 
strains) (balks)  appetite.  The  fish  were  (devouring) 
(swallowing)  with  a  deliberate  seriousness  every  fish  which 
(floated)  (drifted)  within  their  reach,  (snapping)  (clos- 
ing) their  jaws  upon  it  with  a  gulp  of  satisfaction.  The 
only  difficulty  was  in  playing  them  when  (hooked) 
(caught)  with  a  delicate  chalk-stream  casting-line. 

— Froude:  Cheneys  and  the  House  of  Russell. 

5.  The  stars  were  clear,  colored,  and  (bright)  (jewel- 
like),  but  not  frosty.  A  (faint)  (thin)  silvery  vapor  stood 
for  the  Milky  Way.  All  around  me  the  black  (fir-tops) 
(fir-points)  stood  (upright)  (straight)  and  stock-still. 
By  the  whiteness  of  the  pack-saddle,  I  could  see  Modestine 
walking  round  and  round  at  the  length  of  her  tether;  I 
could  hear  her  steadily  (cropping)  (munching  at)  the 
(sward)  (grass) ;  but  there  was  not  another  sound  save 
the  indescribable  quiet  (talk)  (murmur)  of  the  (stream- 
let) (runnel)  over  these  stones.  I  lay  (idly)  (lazily)  smok- 
ing and  studying  the  color  of  the  sky,  as  we  call  the 
(stretch)  (void)  of  space  from  where  it  showed  a  (glossy) 
(shining)  blue-black  between  the  stars. 

— Stevenson  :  Travels  with  a  Donkey, 

^  Copyright,  by  John  Lane  Company. 


VARIETY  OF  EXPEESSION  29 

B.  Fill  the  hlanJcs  in  the  following  passages  with 
appropriate  words  which  shall  express  the  idea  as  spe- 
cifically as  possible : — 

1.  Look  at  any  active  fish through  the  water  by- 
sharp  strol^es  of  its  tail ;  watch  the form  of  a  snake 

as  it through  the  grass,  or  the  graceful  swan 

his  neck  as  he over  the  water,  and  you  will  see  how 

easily  and  the  joints  of  the  backbone  must  move 

one  upon  the  other. 

2.  Selecting  a  piece  of  iron  which  I  thought  would  serve 
my  purpose,  I  placed  it  in  the  fire,  and  plying  the  bellows 

in  a manner,  soon  made  it  hot ;  then it  with 

the  tongs,  I  laid  it  on  my  anvil,  and  began  to it 

with  my  hammer,  according  to  the  rules  of  my  art.     The 
dingle with  my  strokes. 

3.  The  air  clear  but  mild  enough  to  make  the  sap 
; of  snow  still  shining in  the  moon- 
light  and   starlight;   the   distant   of   a   wakeful 

owl ;  the of  pendent  icicles  and of  blazing 

brush. 

4.  The  Berceau  de  Dieu  was  a  little  village  in  the  valley 

of  the   Seine.   ...  It  was   a  place,   with  one 

stony  street,  with  poplars  and  with  elms; 

quaint  houses,  about  whose a of  white  and 

gray  pigeons all  day  long. 

5.  Here  and  there  a  leaf down,  petals  fell  in  a 

silent ,  a  heavy  moth slowly  by,  and  when  it 

settled,  seemed  to  fall  wearily;  the  tiny  birds  alighted  on 

the  walks,  and about  in tranquillity;  even 

a  stray  rabbit  sat a  leaf  that  was  to  its  liking,  in 

the  middle  of  a  grassy  space,  with  an  air  that  seemed  quite 
impudent  in  so a  creature. 


30    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

C.     Fill  the  hlanks  in  the  following  sentences  with 
appropriate  adjectives  or  adverbs: — 

1.  Tarquin  at  first  refused  to  buy  the  Sibylline  books, 
because  the  price  asked  for  them  was . 

2.  King  John  signed  Magna  Charta  most . 


3.  The  dog  looked  at  his  master,  hoping  for 

permission  to  accompany  him. 

4.  Macaulay  tells  us  that  Dr.  Johnson  was  in 

his  dress. 

5.  In   ^'The    Fortunes   of   Nigel,"    Scott   gives    us    a 
portrayal  of  the  eccentricities  of  James. 

6.  The   American   Indian   was    trained   to   bear   pain 


7.  Dr.    S.    Weir   Mitchell,   besides   being   a   successful 
author,  is  one  of  the  most of  American  physicians. 

8.  The  arrangement  of  the  flowers  in  the  vase  was  thor- 
oughly   . 

9.  Gargoyles,    in   medieval    architecture,   were   

carved  in  shapes  of  men  and  animals. 

10.  Macaulay  was  such  a child  that  at  the  age  of 

seven  he  had  written  a  compendium  of  universal  history. 


D.    As  in  the  preceding  exercise, 

1.  The  great  powers  of  continental  Europe  maintain  the 

numerical  strength  of  their  armies  by  means  of  

military  service. 

2.  The  story  of  Dickens's  boyhood,  as  told  in  Forster's 
"  Life,"  reveals  the  fact  that  most  of  David  Copperfield's 
early  experiences  are . 

3.  According  to  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes's  poem,  the 
completion  of  "the  wonderful  one-horse  shay"  and  the 
destruction  of  Lisbon  took  place ♦ 


VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  31 

4.  The  treatment  of  animals  in  England  and 

American  is  in  great  contrast  to  the  cruelty  often  seen  in 
southern  countries. 

5.  Persons  not  accustomed  to  the  bagpipe,  often  find  the 
sounds  it  produces  exceedingly . 

6.  Turkey  is  only in  control  of  Egypt;  the  real 

masters  of  the  country  are  the  English. 

7.  Up  to  the  present  century,  aerial  navigation  seemed  to 
present  an problem  to  experimenters. 

8.  Before  any  steps  were  taken  to  rebuild  San  Francisco 
after  the  earthquake,  many  of  the  inhabitants  were 
housed  in  rough  structures  hastily  erected. 

9.  During  the  reign  of  the  early  Hanoverian  kings,  po- 
litical corruption  was  so  general  that  the  most  

methods  were  commonly  used  by  high  officials. 

10.  When  Lincoln  defended  the  two  brothers  who  were 

charged  with  murder,  he  presented  his  argument  so 

that  their  acquittal  was  a  matter  of  course. 

E.  Fill  the  blanks  in  the  following  sentences  with 
words  expressing  the  opposite  of  the  words  italicized, 
A  positive  form,  not  merely  the  negative  form  of  the 
original  word  should  he  given.  For  example,  to 
**  civil/'  "  rude  "  rather  than  "  uncivil "  should  he  op- 
posed; to  important,  ''  trivial  "  rather  than  "  unimpor- 
tant:' 

1.  "  The  crowd  which  had  assembled  to  see  the  execu- 
tion of  Porteous,  unwillingly  upon  hearing  of  his 

reprieve." 

2.  The  testimony  of  the  prisoner  was  contradicted  by  one 
witness,  but by  another. 

3.  The  theory  of  philosophers  is  not  invariably  carried 
out  in  their . 


32     CONSTKUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

4.  The  temporary  structure  will  soon  be  replaced  by  one 
that  is  meant  to  be . 

5.  "  Her  very  frowns  are  fairer  far 
Than of  other  maidens  are." 

6.  It  is  better  to  err  through  being  too than  by 

being  precipitate. 

H.  "  And  he  owned  with  a  grin 
That  his  favorite  sin 
Is  the  pride  that  apes ." 

8.  In  most  colleges,  certain  studies  are  prescribed,  others 
are . 

9.  Hogarth  has  two  series  of  pictures,  one  called  "  The 
Idle  Apprentice/'  the  other  "  The Apprentice.'' 

10.  He  was  well  read  in  both  sacred  and  liter- 
ature. 

11.  In  countries  where  military  service  is  compulsory, 
the  position  of  the  soldier  is  sometimes  exalted  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the . 

12.  "  All  Nature  is  but unknown  to  thee ; 

All ,  direction  which  thou  canst  not  see; 

All  discord, not  understood, 

All  partial  evil, good." 

13.  The   golden-rod   grows    wild   in   America,    but   is 
in  some  parts  of  Europe. 


14.  "  Chester  has  demonstrated  that  freedom  and  not 
is  the  cure  for  anarchy,  as  religion  and  not 


is  the  true  remedy  for  superstition. 

15.  "  I  have,  in  general,  no  very  exalted  opinion  of 
.  .  .  any  politics  in  which  the  plan  is  to  be  wholly  sep- 
arated from  the ." 

16.  "  You  deposed  kings,  you them." 

17.  Nominally    the    president    is    chosen    by    electors; 
the    electors    merely    register    the    vote    of   the 


people. 


VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  33 

18.  "The  question  is  whether  you  prefer  satisfaction 
in  your  subjects,  or .'^ 

19.  The  optimist  sees  the  silver  lining  of  every  cloud; 
the only  the  darkness  of  the  surface. 

20.  In  "  The  Merchant  of  Venice  "  there  are  four  priri' 
cipal  and  two  necessary characters. 


10.   Shall  and  Will 

To  express  simple  futurity,  "  shall "  is  used  in  the 
first  person,  and  "  will ''  in  the  second  and  third  persons. 
In  direct  statements,  "  will "  in  the  first  person,  and 
"  shall "  in  the  second  and  third  persons,  denote  some- 
thing more  than  simple  futurity.  "  Will "  in  the  first 
person  expresses  determination ;  "  shall  "  in  the  second 
and  third  persons  includes  the  idea  of  compulsion,  or 
of  destiny. 

A.  Decide  between  "  shall  '*  and  ''  will "  in  the  fol- 
lowing quotations: — 

1.  "I  suppose  I  (shall)  (will)  see  you  at  Barchester 
the  day  after  to-morrow,'^  said  he. 

— Trollope. 

2.  I  trust  I  (shall)  (will)  never  more  feel  ambitious  to 
see  my  name  in  print;  if  the  wish  should  rise,  I  (shall) 
(will)  look  at  Southey's  letter,  and  suppress  it. 

— Charlotte  Bronte. 

3.  There  I  (shall)  (will)  have  all  the  privacy  of  a  house 
without  the  encumbrance,  and  (shall)  (will)  be  able  to 
lock  my  friends  out  as  often  as  I  desire  to  hold  free  con- 
verse with  my  immortal  mind. 

— Lamb,     i 


34    CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

4.  I  (shall)  (will)  never  dine  in  your  house  again,  and 
when  I  do,  I  (shall)  (will)  like  nothing,  and  when  I  do,  I 
(shall)   (will)  commend  nothing. 

— Horace  Walpole. 

5.  I  (shall)  (will)  not  say  that  your  mulberry  trees  are 
dead,  but  I  am  afraid  they  are  not  alive.  We  (shall) 
(will)  have  pease  soon. 

— Miss  Austen. 

6.  My  English  enemies  are  virulent  and  numerous,  but 
I  have  met  them  all  and  hitherto  triumphed,  and  I  (shall) 
(will)  meet  them  as  long  as  I  can  speak,  write,  or  pull  a 
trigger. 

— Napier. 

7.  My  eyes  are  open  enough  to  see  the  same  dull  pros- 
pect, and  to  know  that  having  made  four-and-twenty  steps 
more,  I  (shall)  (will)  be  just  where  I  am. 

— Gray. 

8.  I  (shall)  (will)  do  everything  you  desire  your  own 
way. 

— Steele. 

9.  I  have  ever  hated  all  nations,  professions,  and  com- 
munities; and  all  my  love  is  towards  individuals.  .  .  . 
This  is  the  system  upon  which  I  have  governed  myself 
many  years,  and  so  I  (shall)  (will)  go  on  until  I  have 
done  with  them. 

— Swift. 

10.  We  (shall)  (will)  all  meet  again  in  another  planet, 
cured  of  all  defects.  ...  I  (shall)  (will)  be  more  re- 
spectful to  the  upper  clergy;  but  I  (shall)  (will)  have  as 
lively  a  sense  as  I  now  have  of  all  your  kindness  and  affec- 
tion for  me.  — Sydney  Smith. 

B.  Change  the  wording  of  the  following  passages,  so 
as  to  show  clearly  the  force  of  ''  shall ''  and  "  will "; — 


VARIETY  OF  EXPRESSION  35 

Example. — "  Hear  me,  for  I  will  speak,"  is  equivalent 
to  "  Hear  me,  for  I  am  bound  to  speak  " ;  "  The 
snow  shall  be  their  winding-sheet,"  to  "  They  are 
destined  to  have  the  snow  for  their  winding-sheet." 

1.  The  bough  that  is  dead  shall  be  cut  away,  for  the  sake 
of  the  tree  itself. 


Whatever  record  leap  to  light 
He  never  shall  be  shamed. 

If  she  love  me,  this  believe, 
I  will  die  ere  she  shall  grieve. 


— Carlyle. 
— Tennyson. 

-George  Wither. 


4.  Sleep  shall  neither  night  nor  day 
Hang  upon  his  pent-house  lid. 

— Shakespeare. 

5.  Oh,  East  is  East,  and  West  is  West,  and  never  the 

twain  shall  meet.  ^ 

— Kipling. 

6.  I  will  obey,  not  willingly  alone. 

But  gladly,  as  the  precept  were  her  own. 

— COWPER. 

7.  Whoe'er  she  be 

That  not  impossible  she 

That  shall  command  my  life  and  me. 

— Crashaw. 

8.  The  harvests  of  Arretium 

This  year  old  men  shall  reap. 

•^  ^  — Macaulay. 

9.  I  will  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer. 

— General  Grant. 

10.  If  my  calling  be  from  God,  and  my  testimony  from 

the  people,  God  and  the  people  shall  take  it  from  me,  else 

I  will  not  part  from  it.  ^ 

^  — Cromwell. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SEiq^TENCE 

I.  Loose  and  Periodic  Sentences 

A.  In  a  periodic  sentence  the  sense  is  suspended 
until  the  end  is  reached.  A  loose  sentence  is  complete 
in  meaning  at  one  or  more  points  before  its  close. 

Recast  the  following  loose  sentences,  changing  them 
to  periodic  form: — 

Examples. — Loose  sentence.  And  she  came  to  an 
open  place  in  the  forest,  and  there  the  silver  light 
fell  clear  from  the  sky,  and  she  saw  a  great  shad- 
owy rose-tree. 

— Andrew  Lang:  The  Gold  of  Fairnilee, 
Changed  to  periodic  form.     And,  coming  to  an  open 
place  in  the  forest,  where  the  silver  light  fell  clear 
from   the   sky,    she   saw   a   great   shadowy   rose- 
tree. 
Loose  sentence.     For  in  the  whole  scene  there  is  only 
one  book  which  is  at  once  literature,  like  Hans 
Andersen,  and  yet  a  book  for  boys  and  not  for 
children,  and  its  name  is  "  Treasure  Island." 
— G.  K.  Chesterton:  Robert  Louis  Steven- 
son. 

89 


THE  SENTENCE  37 

Changed  to  periodic  form.  For  "  Treasure  Island  " 
is  the  only  book  in  the  whole  scene  which  is  at 
once  literature,  like  Hans  Andersen,  and  yet  a 
book  not  for  children,  but  for  boys. 


1.  We  should  not  be  worthy  sons  of  our  fathers  were  we 
so  to  regard  great  questions  affecting  the  general  freedom. 

2.  Hampden  and  Cromwell  remained,  and  with  them  re- 
mained the  evil  genius  of  the  house  of  Stuart. 

3.  Napoleon  was  possessed  of  an  unparalleled  talent  for 
war,  and  knew  that  his  sure  path  to  greatness  led  through 
the  carnage  and  agony  of  battle-fields. 

4.  The  Welshmen  fought  hard;  the  English  only  won 
Wales  bit  by  bit. 

5.  Montreal  has  taken  immense  strides  forward  commer- 
cially in  the  last  twenty-five  years,  and  the  future  alone  can 
show  to  what  vast  importance  she  may  attain. 

6.  John  Adams,  the  first  president  of  that  name,  though 
not  born  in  Boston,  lived  in  Boston  for  a  considerable  part 
of  his  early  life. 

7.  There  is  no  country  in  Europe  which  is  so  easy  to 
overrun  as  Spain ;  there  is  no  country  which  it  is  more  dif- 
ficult to  conquer. 

8.  Now  it  happened  that  Charles  had  a  favor  to  ask  of 
the  settlers  in  Virginia  and  was  in  the  right  sort  of  mood 
for  a  bargain. 

9.  In  1788  the  first  permanent  English  settlement  was 
made  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Sydney,  and  the 
British  colonial  empire  was  definitely  extended  to  these 
far-off  waters  of  the  Pacific. 

10.  The  young  sea-king  had  already  gathered  experi- 
ence in  the  West  Indies  and  on  the  Spanish  Main;  this 
notable   voyage   taught  him  the   same  kind   of  feeling 


38     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

towards    Spaniards    that    Hannibal    cherished    towards 
Romans. 


B.  1.  The  information  which  Alfred  now  possessed  ren- 
dered him  extremely  desirous  of  obtaining  more,  but  his 
ignorance  of  Latin  was  an  insuperable  obstacle. 

2.  Life  in  a  new  country  is  hard  and  puts  a  heavy  strain 
on  the  wicked  and  incompetent,  but  it  offers  a  fair  chance 
to  all  comers. 

3.  When  these  isolated  colonies  drew  together  and  finally 
became  compacted  into  a  nation,  their  literature  ceased  to 
be  wholly  a  literature  of  sections  and  expressed  this  new 
national  spirit. 

4.  Gilbert  turned  to  milder  latitudes  and  dispatched  his 
explorers  in  1584  and  his  colonists  in  1585  to  the  coast  of 
what  is  now  North  Carolina. 

5.  He  grouped  around  the  jovial  host  of  the  Tabard  Inn 
men  and  women  of  every  class  of  society  in  England,  set 
them  on  horseback  to  ride  to  Canterbury,  and  made  each  of 
them  tell  a  tale. 

6.  Richard  meanwhile  had  ridden  round  the  northern 
wall  of  the  City  to  the  Wardrobe  near  Blackfriars,  and 
from  this  new  refuge  he  opened  the  negotiations. 

7.  It  was  natural  that  there  should  be  a  panic,  and  it  was 
natural  that  the  people  should,  in  a  panic,  be  unreasonable 
and  credulous. 

8.  The  whole  of  the  Highland  army  got  under  arms 
and  moved  with  incredible  celerity  by  the  path  pro- 
posed. 

9.  He  crowded  into  a  few  hours  actions  that  would  have 
given  lustre  to  length  of  life,  and,  filling  his  day  with  great- 
ness, completed  it  before  noon. 

10.  The  day  then  cleared,  and  a  dreadful  fire  poured 


THE  SENTENCE  39 

into  the  thickest  of  the  French  columns  convinced  Soult 
that  the  fight  was  yet  to  be  won. 

C.     Combine  into  periodic  sentences  the  following 
groups  of  related  statements: — 

Example. — (a)  Thackeray  did  not  visit  the  West 
nor  Canada,  (b)  He  went  home  v^ithout  seeing 
Niagara  Falls,  (c)  But  v^herever  he  did  go  he 
found  a  generous  and  social  welcome,  and  a  re- 
spectful and  sympathetic  hearing. 

— G.  W.  Curtis:  Essays. 

Combined. — "  Though  Thackeray  did  not  visit  the 
West  and  Canada,  and  though  he  went  home  with- 
out seeing  Niagara  Falls,  wherever  he  did  go  he 
found  both  a  generous  and  social  welcome,  and  a 
respectful  and  sympathetic  hearing." 

1.  (a)  A  clay-walled,  thatched  cottage  of  one  story  was 

their  home  for  some  twelve  years. 

(b)  Here  their  eldest  child  was  born. 

(c)  He  was  the  immortal  Eobert  Burns. 

2.  (a)  Mount  Oliphant  is  another  place  of  interest. 

(b)  It  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Alloway. 

(c)  The  poet  lived  here  from  his  seventh  to  his  sev- 

enteenth year. 

3.  (a)  A  drowsiness  fell  on  King  Eobert. 

(b)  It  was  so  heavy  that  he  could  not  resist  an  in- 

clination to  sleep. 

(c)  He  could  not  resist  the  inclination  for  all  the 

danger  he  was  in. 

4.  (a)  During  this  time  interest  in  men  began  to  influ- 

ence poetry. 


40     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

(b)  It  was  an  interest  in  man  independent  of  nation, 

class,  and  caste. 

(c)  We  have  already  seen  this  interest  in  prose. 

5.   (a)  A  conservative  reaction  had  followed  the  meeting 
of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

(b)  It  had  given  way  by  the  year  1830. 

(c)  It  had  given  way  before  a  fresh  outbreak  of  the 

Revolutionary  spirit. 

D.  Combine  in  two  different  ways  the  statements 
lettered  (a)  and  (h)  under  each  of  the  following  num- 
bers, forming,  first,  a  loose  sentence;  second,  a  periodic 
sentence.  Avoid  the  use  of  "  and  '*  as  a  connective  be- 
tween the  clauses  of  the  loose  sentence. 

Example. — (a)  Milton  retired  to  a  new  home  at  Hor- 
ton.     (b)  Here  he  devoted  himself  to  study. 

Loose. — Milton  retired  to  a  new  home  at  Horton, 
where  he  devoted  himself  to  study. 

Periodic. — Eetiring  to  a  new  home  at  Horton,  Milton 
devoted  himself  to  study. 

1.  (a)  He  lived  at  a  time  when  criticism  began  to  purify 

the  verse  of  England. 
(b)  He  was  able  to  keep  his  verse  free  from  the  false 
conceits  of  the  Elizabethan  writers. 

2.  (a)  It  is  a  very  dramatic  form  for  the  story, 
(b)   One  almost  wishes  it  were  true. 

3.  (a)  The  Archbishop  of   Canterbury  was  immersed 

in  the  business  of  the  state, 
(b)  He  was  no  mere  politician. 

4.  (a)  For  a  hundred  years  the  country  remained  at 

peace. 
(b)  The  peace  was  the  peace  of  despair ^ 


THE  SENTENCE  41 

5.  (a)   He  was  great  in  the  council, 
(b)   He  was  even  greater  in  the  field. 

6.  (a)   The  greater  issues  of  English  history  do  not  act 

within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  mother  island, 
(b)   They  lie  in  the  destinies  of  future  nations. 

7.  (a)  England  was  far  from  being  ruined  by  the  great- 

ness of  her  defeat, 
(b)   She  rose  from  it  stronger  and  more  vigorous  than 
ever. 

8.  (a)  Burke's  ideas  were  conceived  by  the  reason. 

(b)   They  took  shape  and  colour  from  the  splendour 
and  fire  of  his  imagination. 

9.  (a)  Marlborough  knew  nothing  of  honour  or  the  finer 

sentiments  of  mankind. 
(b)  He  turned  without  a  shock  from  guiding  Europe 
and  winning  great  victories  to  heap  up  igno- 
bly and  dishonestly  a  huge  and  matchless  for- 
tune. 
10.   (a)  The  King  nerved  himself  for  the  interview, 
(b)  He  knew  it  could  have  but  one  issue. 


2.  Parallel  Structure 

Parallel  structure  is  the  use  of  similar  forms  of  ex- 
pression for  corresponding  or  contrasting  thoughts. 

A.     Improve  the  following  passages  hy  using  par- 
allel structure: — 

Example. — "  Kings  v^ill  be  tyrants  from  policy,  when 
principle  makes  subjects  rebellious,"  is  less  effect- 
ive than  the  form  used  by  Burke,  "  Kings  will  be 
tyrants  from  policy,  when  subjects  are  rebels  from 
principle." 


42    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

1.  It  is  not  the  dark  place  that  hinders,  but  the  dimness 
of  the  eye. 

2.  He  has  a  hearty  contempt  for  the  people,  and  he  relies 
firmly  upon  himself. 

3.  The  world  is  a  comedy  to  those  who  think,  but  to  the 
sensitive  it  is  tragic. 

4.  ^Tis  to  fail  in  life,  but  failure  with  what  a  grace! 
That  is  not  lost  which  we  do  not  regret. 

5.  He  reads  twenty  books  to  write  a  sentence ;  a  hundred 
miles  of  travel  furnish  him  with  a  line  of  description. 

6.  In  the  course  of  time  we  grow  to  love  things  we  hated, 
and  find  hateful  things  we  loved.  Milton  is  not  so  dull  as 
he  once  was,  nor  does  Ainsworth,  perhaps,  amuse  us  so 
much. 

B.  Rewrite  the  following  selections,  avoiding  par- 
allel structure  wherever  possible: — 

1.  To  a  poet  nothing  can  be  useless.  He  must  be  con- 
versant with  whatever  is  beautiful,  and  whatever  is  dread- 
ful; with  all  that  is  awfully  vast  or  elegantly  little.  The 
plants  of  the  garden,  the  animals  of  the  wood,  the  minerals 
of  the  earth,  and  meteors  of  the  sky,  must  all  concur  to 
store  his  mind  with  inexhaustible  variety;  for  every  idea  is 
useful  for  the  enforcement  or  decoration  of  moral  or  re- 
ligious truth ;  and  he  who  knows  most  will  have  most  power 
of  diversifying  his  scenes,  and  of  gratifying  his  reader  with 
remote  allusions  and  unexpected  instruction. 

— Johnson  :  Rasselas. 

2.  Like  the  hero  of  Homer,  he  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures 
of  fascination,  but  he  was  not  fascinated.  He  listened  to 
the  songs  of  the  Syrens,  yet  he  glided  by  without  being 
seduced  to  their  fatal  shore.  He  tasted  the  cup  of  Circe, 
but  he  bore  about  him  a  sure  antidote  against  the  effects 


THE  SENTENCE  43 

of  its  bewitching  sweetness.  The  allusions  which  capti- 
vated his  imagination  never  impaired  his  reasoning 
powers.  The  statesman  was  proof  against  the  splendor, 
the  solemnity,  and  the  romance  which  enchanted  the 
poet. 

— Macaulay  :  Essay  on  Milton. 


3.  Emphasis 

A.  Recast  the  following  sentences,  altering  the 
structure  to  make  the  beginnings  more  emphatic : — 

Example. — The  main  bearings  of  the  national  story 
are  scrupulously  adhered  to  in  the  plays,  rich  as 
they  are  in  fancy  and  imagination. 

Recast. — "  Rich  as  these  plays  are  in  fancy  and  imag- 
ination, the  main  bearings  of  the  national  story  are 
scrupulously  adhered  to  in  them." 

1.  Another  kindred  tribe,  the  Jutes,  whose  name  is  still 
preserved  in  their  district  of  Jutland,  lay  to  the  north  of 
the  English  in  their  Sleswick  home. 

2.  Fielding  retains  some  of  the  most  precious  and  splen- 
did human  qualities  and  endowments,  stained  as  you  see 
him,  and  worn  with  care  and  dissipation. 

3.  Becket  was  as  omnipotent  as  Wolsey  after  him  and 
no  less  magnificent  in  his  outward  bearing. 

4.  There  is  over  and  above  all  these  another  sense  and 
perhaps  the  most  important  of  all  in  which  we  may  speak 
of  the  feeling  for  Nature. 

5.  All  Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  Welshmen,  Irishmen, 
are  at  Henry's  side  at  Agincourt. 

6.  A  general  dissolution  of  the  organization  of  mediaeval 


44    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

society  came  with  the  Reformation,  as  its  cause  or  as  its 
consequence. 

7.  Henry's  policy  shrinks  into  littleness,  great  as  were 
its  issues,  if  we  turn  from  it  to  the  weighty  movements 
which  were  now  stirring  the  minds  of  men. 

8.  Keats  took  us  back  into  mediaeval  romance,  not  con- 
tent with  carrying  us  into  Greek  life. 

9.  Since  I  waited  in  your  outward  rooms,  or  was  re- 
pulsed from  your  door,  my  Lord,  seven  years  have  passed. 

10.  To  have  turned  history  too  often  into  a  mere  record 
of  the  butchery  of  men  by  their  fellow  men  is  the  reproach 
of  historians. 

B.  Rewrite  the  following  paragraph,  varying  the 
sentence-beginnings : — 

There  are  several  kinds  of  truth.  There  is  the  truth  of 
pure  mathematics,  which  is  perfect  as  long  as  it  concerns 
lines  or  figures  which  exist  only  as  abstractions.  There  is 
the  truth  of  a  drama  like  "  Hamlet,"  which  is  lit- 
erary invention,  yet  is  a  true  picture  of  men  and 
women.  There  is  the  truth  in  a  picture  of  men  and 
women.  There  is  the  truth  of  a  fable.  There  is  the 
truth  of  an  edifying  moral  tale.  There  is  the  truth  of  a 
legend  which  has  sprung  up -involuntarily  out  of  the  hearts 
of  a  number  of  people,  and  therefore  represents  something 
in  their  own  minds.  Finally,  there  is  the  dull  truth  of 
plain  experienced  fact,  which  has  to  be  painfully  sifted 
out  by  comparisons  of  evidence,  by  observation,  and  when 
possible,  by  experiment,  and  is  held  at  last,  after  all  care 
has  been  taken  by  those  who  know  what  truth  of  fact 
means,  with  but  graduated  certainty,  and  as  liable  at  all 
time  to  revision  and  correction. 

— Froude:  The  Oxford  Counter-Reformation. 


THE  SENTENCE  45 

4.  Variety  of  Structure 

A.  Combine  the  statements  under  the  following 
numbers  in  two  different  ways,  varying  either  the 
rhetorical  or  the  grammatical  structure: — 

Example. — The  faults  of  James,  both  as  a  man  and  as 
a  prince,  were  numerous. 

Insensibility  to  the  claims  of  genius  and  learn- 
ing was  not  among  them. 

(a)  Numerous  as  were  the  faults  of  James,  both 
as  a  man  and  as  a  prince,  insensibility  to  the  claims 
of  genius  and  learning  was  not  among  them. 

(b)  James  had  numerous  faults,  both  as  a  man 
and  as  a  prince,  but  insensibility  to  the  claims  of 
genius  was  not  among  them. 

1.  (a)   Cromwell  had  no  desire  to  play  the  tyrant. 

(b)   Cromwell  had  no  belief  in  the  permanence  of  a 
mere  tyranny. 

2.  (a)  I  now  found  myself  among  noble  avenues  of  elms 

and  oaks. 
(b)  Their  vast  size  bespoke  the  growth  of  centuries. 

3.  (a)  Burke  advocated  liberty  in  the  rising  colonies  of 

the  West, 
(b)  He  then  championed  justice  and  humanity  in  the 
newly-won  dependency  of  India. 

4.  (a)   The  governing  principle  of  Walpole's  conduct 

was  neither  love  of  peace  nor  love  of  war. 
(b)  It  was  love  of  power. 

5.  (a)  The  ascendency  which  Spain  then  had  in  Europe 

was  in  one  sense  well  deserved. 
(b)  It  was  an  ascendency  which  had  been  gained  by 


46     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

unquestioned  superiority  in  all  the  arts  of 
policy  and  of  war. 

6.  (a)  A  tenderness  to  the  fallen  has  through  many 

years  been  a  feature  of  the  English  character, 
(b)   For  a  time  after  the  return  of  Charles  it  was 
scarcely  discernible. 

7.  (a)  An  appalling  plunge  into  murder  and  anarchy 

followed    hard    upon    the    triumph    of    the 
French  Revolution. 
(b)  It  shocked  into  a  sudden  sobriety  much  of  the 
vague  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  man. 

8.  (a)  Bacon's  talents  were  such  as  any  minister  might 

have  been  eager  to  enlist  in  the  public  service, 
(b)  But  his  solicitations  were  unsuccessful. 

9.  (a)   The  French  king  pushed  forward  unwillingly, 
(b)  At  four  in  the  afternoon  he  came  in  sight  of  the 

English. 
10.  (a)   Chatham  was  broken  with  age  and  disease. 

(b)  He  was  borne  to  the  House  of  Lords  to  utter  his 
protest  against  the  proposal  to  surrender 
America. 

B.  Combine  each  of  the  following  groups  of  state- 
ments in  two  different  ways,  varying  the  structure  as 
much  as  possible,  but  changing  the  wording  no  more  than 
is  necessary: — 

Example. — ^An  immense  multitude  crowded  the  beach 
at  Dover. 

They  bordered  the  road  along  which  the  King 
traveled  to  London. 

In  this  immense  multitude  there  was  not  one 
who  was  not  weeping. 

(a)  In  the  immense  multitude  which  crowded 


THE  SENTENCE  47 

the  beach  at  Dover  and  which  bordered  the  road 
along  which  the  King  traveled  to  London,  there 
was  not  one  who  was  not  weeping. 

(b)  Crowding  the  beach  at  Dover  and  border- 
ing the  road  along  which  the  King  traveled  to  Lon- 
don, was  an  immense  multitude,  in  which  there  was 
not  one  who  was  not  weeping. 

1.  (a)  It  was  an  error  to  think  Marlborough  a  happy- 

man. 

(b)  He  desired  that  the  world  should  continue  in  that 

error. 

(c)  He  thought  it  better  to  be  envied  than  pitied. 

2.  (a)   Marlborough  was  never  defeated  in  the  field. 

(b)  Victory  after  victory  was  snatched  from  him. 

(c)  The  victories  were  snatched  from  him  by  the  inca- 

pacity of  his  officers  or  the  stubbornness  of 
the  Dutch. 

3.  (a)  We  approached  the  church  at  Stratford  through 

the  avenue  of  limes. 

(b)  We  entered  it  through  a  Gothic  porch. 

(c)  The  porch  is  highly  ornamented,  and  has  carved 

doors  of  massive  oak. 

4.  (a)  In  London,  Shakespeare  soon  formed  a  connec- 

tion with  the  theatre. 

(b)  He  became  an  actor  and  also  an  adapter  of  plays. 

(c)  Not  very  long  afterwards  he  began  to  write  plays. 

5.  (a)   The  knights  had  been  checked  for  a  moment 

by  the  sight  of  the  closed  door. 

(b)  They  saw  it  unexpectedly  thrown  open. 

(c)  They  rushed  into  the  church. 


48    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

C.  Change  the  structure  of  the  sentences  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs  in  accordance  with  the  directions 
appended  to  each: — 

1.  (a)  All  Europe  was  occupied  with  war  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  nineteenth  century,  (b)  The  European  people 
then  numbered  one  hundred  and  seventy  million,  and  of 
these  four  million  were  set  apart  to  the  business  of  fighting 
by  their  own  choice  or  by  the  decree  of  their  governments, 
(c)  From  the  North  to  the  South,  from  the  East  to  the 
West,  men  toiled  to  burn  each  other's  cities,  that  each 
other's  fields  might  be  wasted,  for  the  destruction  of  each 
other's  lives,  (d)  In  some  lands  was  heard  the  shout  of 
victory;  the  defeated  wailed  in  some,  (e)  Though  this 
had  already  lasted  for  ten  years,  it  was  to  last  for  fifteen 
years  more,  (f)  It  was  not  to  cease  till  millions  of  men 
had  perished. 

— R.  Mackenzie  :  History  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  (Adapted), 

Mahe  (a)  periodic.  Make  the  conclusion  of  (h) 
more  emphatic,  Mahe  the  wording  of  the  first  two 
phrases  of  (c)  specific;  secure  parallel  structure  in 
the  conclusion,  and  in  (d).  Make  (e)  loose,  and  alter 
the  emphasis  in  (f), 

2.  (a)  It  is  not  more  difficult  for  the  mineralogist  to 
define  a  metal  than  for  the  critic  to  define  a  classic,  (b) 
No  attribute  or  property  of  metal  can  be  mentioned — hard- 
ness, brittleness,  malleability,  magnetism,  lustre, — ^but 
some  acknowledged  metal  can  be  found  which  lacks  it. 
(c)  So  when  we  come  to  define  what  is  classic  in  literature, 
we  find  not  a  single  quality  that  may  not  be  dispensed  with 
or  that  is  not  lacking  in  some  universally  accepted  and 


THE  SENTENCE  49 

canonized  piece  of  composition,  (d)  Is  age  a  requisite? 
(e)  Consider  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  at  Gettysburg,  which 
was  recognized  as  classic  and  immortal  the  hour  it  was 
flashed  from  the  wires  and  printed  or  misprinted  in  the 
five  thousand  journals  of  the  land,  (f)  Is  perfection  of 
plot  or  unity  of  design  necessary?  (g)  David  Copper  field 
can  hardly  be  said  to  have  a  plot,  and  the  *^  Merchant  of 
Venice "  is  notably  lacking  in  unity,  (h)  Is  detailed 
grammatical  and  idiomatic  correctness  indispensable?  (i) 
Then  how  few  are  the  masters  of  English  prose ! 

— EossiTER  Johnson:  Introduction  to  ''Little 
Classics/' 

Alter  the  emphasis  in  (a).  Make  (h)  loose,  Breah 
(c)  into  two  sentences.  Combine  (d)  and  (e) ;  (f) 
and  (g);  (h)  and  (i), 

3.  (a)  No  man  in  China  is  isolated,  save  by  his  own 
fault,  (b)  If  it  is  not  so  easy  for  him  to  grow  rich  as  with 
you,  neither  is  it  so  easy  for  him  to  starve ;  if  he  has  not  the 
motive  to  compete,  neither  has  he  the  temptation  to  cheat 
and  oppress,  (c)  Free  at  once  from  the  torment  of  ambi- 
tion and  the  apprehension  of  distress,  he  has  leisure  to 
spare  from  the  acquisition  of  the  means  of  living  for  life 
itself. 

— G.  Lowes  Dickinson  :  Letters  from  a  Chinese 
Official'- 

Make  (a)  periodic.  Break  up  the  parallelisms  in 
(h).    Alter  the  emphasis  in  (c). 

4.  (a)  It  is  worth  observing  that  in  all  these  historical 
plays,  which  give  an  admirable  picture  of  the  spirit  of  the 
good  old  times,  the  moral  inference  does  not  depend  at  all 

1  Copyright,  by  The  S.  S.  McClure  Company. 


50     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

upon  the  nature  of  the  actions,  but  on  the  dignity  or  mean- 
ness of  the  persons  committing  them,  (b)  "  The  Eagle 
England^'  has  a  right  "to  be  in  prey,"  but  the  "weasel 
Scot "  has  none  "  to  come  sneaking  to  her  nest,"  which  she 
has  left  to  pounce  upon  others,  (c)  Might  was  right  with- 
out equivocation  or  disguise,  in  that  heroic  and  chivalrous 
age. 

— Hazlitt:  Lectures  on  Dramatic  Literature, 

Break  up  (a)  into  two  sentences.  Make  (h)  and 
(c)  periodic. 

5.  (a)  This  is  evidently  the  writing  not  only  of  a  man 
of  good  sense  and  natural  good  taste,  but  of  a  man  of  lit- 
erary habits,  (b)  Of  the  studies  of  Hampden  little  is 
known,  (c)  But,  as  it  was  at  one  time  in  contemplation 
to  give  him  the  charge  of  the  education  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  his  acquirements  were  con- 
siderable, (d)  Davila,  it  is  said,  was  one  of  his  favorite 
writers,  (e)  The  moderation  of  Davila's  opinions  and  the 
perspicuity  and  manliness  of  his  style  could  not  but  recom- 
mend him  to  so  judicious  a  reader,  (f)  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  the  parallel  between  France  and  England,  the 
Huguenots  and  the  Puritans,  had  struck  the  mind  of 
Hampden,  and  that  he  already  found  within  himself  pow- 
ers not  unequal  to   the  lofty  part  of  Coligni. 

— Macaulay  :  Essay  on  Hampden, 

Make  (a)  loose.  Alter  the  emphasis  in  (b).  Make 
(c)  loose.  Alter  the  emphasis  in  (d)  and  (e).  Make 
(f)  periodic, 

5.  Short  Sentences 

A.  Break  up  the  following  long  sentences  into 
shorter  sentences: — 


THE  SENTENCE  51 

Example. — Dick  set  about  almost  all  the  undertakings 
of  his  life  with  inadequate  means,  and,  as  he  took 
and  furnished  a  house  with  the  most  generous  in- 
tentions towards  his  friends,  the  most  tender  gal- 
lantry towards  his  wife,  and  with  this  only  draw- 
back, that  he  had  not  wherewithal  to  pay  the  rent 
when  quarter-day  came, — so,  in  his  life  he  pro- 
posed to  himself  the  most  magnificent  schemes  of 
virtue,  forbearance,  public  and  private  good,  and 
the  advancement  of  his  own  and  the  national  re- 
ligion ;  but  when  he  had  to  pay  for  these  articles — 
so  difficult  to  purchase  and  so  costly  to  maintain — 
poor  Dick's  money  was  not  forthcoming. 

— Thackeray  :  English  Humorists. 

Rewritten  in  Short  Sentences. — Dick  set  about  all 
the  undertakings  of  his  life  with  inadequate  means. 
He  took  and  furnished  a  house  with  the  most  gen- 
erous intentions  towards  his  friends,  the  most  ten- 
der gallantry  toward  his  wife.  There  was  only 
this  drawback,  that  he  had  not  wherewithal  to  pay 
the  rent  when  quarter-day  came.  So  in  his  life  he 
proposed  to  himself  the  most  magnificent  schemes 
of  virtue,  forbearance,  public  and  private  good, 
and  the  advancement  of  his  own  and  the  national 
religion.  But  these  articles  are  difficult  to  pur- 
chase and  costly  to  maintain.  And  when  he 
had  to  pay  for  them  Dick's  money  was  not  forth- 
coming. 

1.  Sad  and  suffering,  issued  from  the  British  canton- 
ments a  confused  mass  of  Europeans  and  Asiatics,  a  min- 
gled crowd  of  combatants  and  non-combatants,  of  men  of 


62     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

various  climes  and  complexion  and  habits — part  of  them 
peculiarly  unfitted  to  endure  the  hardships  of  a  rigorous 
climate,  and  many  of  a  sex  and  tender  age  which  in  general 
exempts  them  from  such  scenes  of  horror. 

— Alison  :  History  of  Europe. 

2.  In  an  open  space  behind  the  constable  there  was  seen 
approaching  a  "white  chariot^'  drawn  by  two  palfreys 
in  white  damask  which  swept  the  ground ;  a  golden  canopy 
borne  above  it,  making  music  with  silver  bells ;  and  in  the 
chariot  sat  the  observed  of  all  observers,  the  beautiful  occa- 
sion of  all  this  glittering  homage;  fortune's  plaything  of 
the  hour,  the  Queen  of  England — queen  at  last — borne 
along  upon  the  waves  of  this  sea  of  glory,  breathing  the 
perfumed  incense  of  greatness  which  she  had  risked  her 
fair  name,  her  delicacy,  her  honor,  her  self-respect,  to  win 
— and  she  had  won  it. 

— Froude:  History  of  England. 

3.  Upon  the  higher  ground,  as  may  be  seen  in  many 
towns  of  England,  at  the  present  day,  stood  the  Guildhall 
and  the  Ward  of  the  Aldermen,  distinguished  by  houses 
partially  built  of  stone  pilfered  from  the  old  Roman  monu- 
ments, forming  a  striking  contrast  to  the  outer  circul  and 
the  suburbs,  where,  down  to  the  water's  edge  and  straggling 
beyond  it,  in  an  uncertain  and  precarious  tenure,  rose 
wooden  sheds,  rudely  plastered  or  whitewashed,  on  the  edge 
of  the  town-ditch,  sheltering  the  last  new  settlers  that  had 
flocked  into  the  town  for  occupation  or  protection ;  a  mixed 
race,  of  whom  little  inquiry  was  made;  tolerated,  not  ac- 
knowledged; of  all  blood,  all  climates  and  all  religions, 
permitted  to  live  or  die  as  it  pleased  God  or  themselves, 
provided  only  that  they  yielded  due  obedience  to  the  civil 
authorities. 

— Brewer:  The  Friars  and  the  Towns. 


THE  SENTENCE  63 

B.  Rewrite  the  following  paragraph,  hreahing  up 
the  long  sentences  into  shorter  sentences: — 

Of  those,  two  gentlemen  who  are  about  to  act  a  very  im- 
portant part  in  our  history,  one  only  was  probably  a  native 
of  Britain — we  say  probably — ^because  the  individual  in 
question  was  himself  quite  uncertain,  and,  it  must  be  added, 
entirely  indifferent  about  his  birthplace;  but  speaking  the 
English  language,  and  having  been  during  the  course  of 
his  life  pretty  generally  engaged  in  the  British  service,  he 
had  a  tolerably  fair  claim  to  the  majestic  title  of  Briton. 
His  name  was  Peter  Brock,  otherwise  Corporal  Brock,  of 
Lord  Cutt's  regiment  of  dragoons;  he  was  of  age  about 
fifty-seven  (even  that  point  has  never  been  ascertained) ; 
in  height,  about  five  feet  six  inches ;  in  weight,  nearly  thir- 
teen stone;  with  a  chest  that  the  celebrated  Leitch  himself 
might  envy;  ...  a  stomach  so  elastic  that  it  would  ac- 
commodate itself  to  any  given  or  stolen  quantity  of  food, 
a  great  aptitude  for  strong  liquors;  ...  he  was  a  lover 
of  jokes,  of  which  he  made  many,  and  passably  bad ;  when 
pleased,  simply  coarse,  boisterous,  and  jovial ;  when  angry, 
a  perfect  demon,  bullying,  cursing,  storming,  fighting,  as 
is  sometimes  the  wont  with  gentlemen  of  his  cloth  and 
education. 

— Thackeray:  Catherine. 


6.  Long  Sentences 

Rewrite  the  following  passages,  combining  the  short 
sentences  wherever  possible: — 

Example. — "  She  loved  gaiety  and  laughter  and  wit. 
A  happy  retort  or  a  finished  compliment  never 


54     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

failed  to  win  her  favor.  She  hoarded  jewels.  Her 
dresses  were  innumerable.  Her  vanity  remained 
even  to  old  age,  the  vanity  of  a  coquette  in  her 
teens.  No  adulation  was  too  fulsome  for  her;  no 
flattery  of  her  beauty  too  gross. '^ 

— J.  K.  Geeen;  Short  History  of  England. 
Rewritten. — Such  was  her  love  of  gaiety  and  laughter 
and  wit  that  a  happy  retort  or  a  finished  compli- 
ment never  failed  to  win  her  favor.  She  hoarded 
jewels  and  her  dresses  were  innumerable.  Retain- 
ing even  to  old  age  the  vanity  of  a  coquette  in  her 
teens,  she  found  no  adulation  too  fulsome,  no  flat- 
tery of  her  beauty  too  gross. 

1.  To  sum  up,  Hotspur  is  a  magnificent  animal.  He 
is  not  a  leader  among  animals,  even.  He  is  a  soldier,  not 
a  captain.  His  heady  temper  brought  about  the  defeat  at 
Shrewsbury.  He  was  a  perfect  type  of  the  titled  bravado. 
He  fought  valiantly  and  died  on  the  field  of  battle  hon- 
orable, but  not  all  the  glamour  of  poetry  thrown  over  him 
by  the  power  of  genius  can  make  him  an  ideal  man. 

— Warner:   English   History   in  Shakespeare's 
Plays. 

2.  The  attack  on  the  Bastile  was  not  a  matter  of  reason. 
It  was  an  act  of  faith.  Nobody  made  a  suggestion.  But 
all  had  a  belief,  and  all  acted.  Along  the  streets,  quays, 
bridges,  boulevards,  crowds  shouted  to  crowds,  "  To  the 
Bastile,  to  the  Bastile."  Nobody,  I  repeat,  gave  the  in- 
itial push.  — ^I^IicHELET :  Revolution  Frangaise. 

3.  Shortcomings  there  may  be,  and  our  business  is  to 
find  them  out  and  mend  them.  The  means  are  now  in 
our  hands.  The  people  have  at  last  political  power.  All 
interests  are  not  represented  in  Parliament.    All  are  sure 


THE  SENTENCE  55 

of  consideration.  Class  government  is  at  an  end.  The  age 
of  monopolies  is  gone.  England  belongs  to  herself.  We 
are  at  last  free.  -Froude  :  On  Progress. 

(4)  This  is  the  point  I  wish  to  urge.  Good  temper  and 
bad  temper  are  symptoms  of  good  and  bad  moral  health. 
Good  temper  is  not  a  thing  to  be  aimed  at  directly ;  it  is  a 
result.  Bad  temper,  in  like  manner,  is  a  result.  It  is 
symptomatic  of  some  irregular  abnormal  action  of  the  soul. 
You  cannot  cure  it  directly  by  an  effort  to  be  good-tem- 
pered. You  can,  no  doubt,  by  an  effort,  repress  its  mani- 
festations. You  cannot  control  yourself,  so  as  not  to  say 
or  do  bad-tempered  things.  But  the  bad  temper  itself  is 
to  be  cured,  as  a  musician  cures  a  discord  in  his  instru- 
ment by  tuning  all  the  strings. 

F.  Clarke:  Self -Culture. 


7.  Use  of  Short  Sentence  as  Introduction 
and  as  Conclusion 

A.     The  short  sentence  used  as  introduction. 

Note  the  use  of  the  introductory  short  sentence  in 
paragraphs  1  and  2,  quoted  below.  In  3,  4,  5,  and  6, 
the  opening  sentence  is  omitted.  Frame  short  sentences 
which  might  serve  for  appropriate  introductions. 

1.  A  greater  enterprise  was  now  to  he  attempted.  The 
Bastile  was  to  the  Parisians  an  expressive  symbol  of  the 
despotism  under  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  groaned. 
It  seemed  hopeless  for  a  mob  to  attempt  the  overthrow  of 
the  famous  citadel,  with  its  ponderous  drawbridges,  its 
massive  walls,  its  lofty  towers,  its  artillery  which  could  in- 
flict injuries  so  terrible  upon  the  undefended  besiegers. 


66    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

But  the  garrison  was  feeble  in  number  and  irresolute  in 
spirit.  Both  governor  and  garrison  quailed  before  the 
countless  multitude  of  their  assailants.  The  Bastile  was 
surrendered  after  a  slight  resistance,  and  many  of  its  de- 
fenders were  pitilessly  massacred. 

— ^R.    Mackenzie:   History   of   the   Nineteenth 
Century. 

2.  Beauty  is  the  quality  which  makes  to  endure.  In  a 
house  that  I  know,  I  have  noticed  a  block  of  spermaceti 
lying  about  closets  and  mantel-pieces  for  twenty  years  to- 
gether, simply  because  the  tallow-man  gave  it  the  form  of 
a  rabbit,  and,  I  suppose,  it  may  continue  to  be  lugged 
about  unchanged  for  a  century.  Let  an  artist  scrawl  a  few 
lines  or  figure  on  the  back  of  a  letter,  and  that  scrap  of 
paper  is  put  in  a  portfolio,  is  framed  and  glazed,  and,  in 
proportion  to  the  beauty  of  the  lines  drawn,  will  be  kept 
for  centuries.  Burns  writes  a  copy  of  verses,  and  sends 
them  to  a  newspaper,  and  the  human  race  take  charge  of 
them  that  they  shall  not  perish. 

— Emerson:  Beauty. 

3.  '( )     The  hotels,  kept  in  the 

English  style,  have  French  waiters  and  French  cooks.  The 
goods  in  the  shop  are  English,  but  they  are  sold  by  French 
clerks.  Through  the  quaint  streets,  which  have  been 
piously  named  for  some  old  saints,  pass  the  modern  electric 
cars.  In  and  out  amongst  the  motley  crowd  of  prosperous 
English  merchants,  curious  Yankee  tourists  and  pushing 
Irish  cabmen,  glide  the  sombre  priest  and  the  gray  nun 
with  her  pale  and  downcast  face. 

— F.  E.  Coe:  Our  American  Neighbors.^ 

4.  ( )  We  take  pleasure  in  two 

amateur  performances  in  the  course  of  a  winter,  but  a  con- 
stant succession  of  them  would  be  pretty  painful.    In  point 

» Copyright  by  Silver,  Burdett  and  Company. 


THE  SENTENCE  6T 

of  fact,  the  third-rate  professional  gives  more  pleasure  in 
the  long  run  than  the  first-rate  amateur.  This  is  because  he 
knows  how  to  use  all  his  powers,  and  he  makes  the  most 
of  them.  He  may  even  turn  his  weaknesses  to  his  advan- 
tage. (Witness  Sir  Henry  Irving's  impersonation  of 
Louis  XI.)  The  professional's  performance  is  all  of  a 
piece;  and  though  it  may  never  reach  any  very  high  level, 
i*-  has  a  certain  consistency  and  completeness  which  make 
upon  us  the  impression  of  reality. 

— H.  E.  Hersey:  TalTcs  to  Girls. 

5.  ( )   'Tis  said,  London  and 

New  York  take  the  nonsense  out  of  a  man.  A  great  part 
of  our  education  is  sympathetic  and  social.  Boys  and  girls 
who  have  been  brought  up  with  well-informed  and  superior 
people  show  in  their  manners  an  inestimable  grace.  Fuller 
says  that  "  William,  Earl  of  Nassau,  won  a  subject  from 
the  King  of  Spain  every  time  he  put  off  his  hat."  You  can- 
not have  one  well-bred  man  without  a  whole  society  of  such. 
They  keep  each  other  up  to  any  high  point.  .  .  .  Besides, 
we  must  remember  the  high  school  possibilities  of  a  million 
of  men.  The  best  bribe  which  London  offers  to-day  to 
the  imagination  is  that,  in  such  a  vast  variety  of  people 
and  conditions,  one  can  believe  there  is  room  for  persons  of 
romantic  character  to  exist,  and  that  the  poet,  the  mystic 
and  the  hero  may  hope  to  confront  their  counterparts. 

— Emerson:  Culture. 

6.  ( )     Says    the    Guesser    at 

Truth :  "  First  thoughts  are  best,  being  those  of  generous 
impulse;  whereas  second  thoughts  are  those  of  selfish 
prudence;  best  in  worldly  wisdom,  but  in  a  higher  economy, 
worst."  The  proverb,  in  fact,  as  so  many  of  its  kind  are 
said  to  do,  tells  just  half  the  truth ;  needing  its  converse  to 
complete  the  whole.  For,  if  a  man  be  generous  by  nature, 
then  it  may  be  as  the  Guesser  at  Truth  says.     But  if  he  be 


58     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

ungenerous  by  nature,  then  the  order  is  reversed,  and  the 
proverb  will  hold  even  in  that  better  economy  adverted  to ; 
his  first  thoughts  will  be  those  of  selfish  policy;  but  his 
second  may  be  those,  not  oi  generous  impulse  indeed,  but 
of  a  generous  religion  or  philosophy. 

— Edward  Fitzgerald:  Polonius, 

B.     The  short  sentence  used  as  conclusion. 

Paragraphs  1  and  2  contain  examples  of  the  effective 
use  of  the  short  concluding  sentence.  In  3,  4,  5,  and 
6,  the  concluding  sentence  is  omitted.  Frame  short  sen- 
tences which  would  he  effective  as  conclusions. 

1.  Of  this  second  letter  also  she  spoke,  and  told  me  that 
it  contained  an  invitation  to  her  to  go  and  see  the  poet  if 
ever  she  visited  the  Lakes.  "But  there  was  no  money  to 
spare,"  said  she,  "nor  any  prospect  of  my  ever  earning 
money  enough  to  have  the  chance  of  so  great  a  pleasure, 
so  I  gave  up  thinking  of  it."  At  the  time  we  conversed 
together  on  the  subject  we  were  at  the  Lakes.  But  Souihey 
was  dead. 

— ^Mrs.  Gaskell:  Life  of  Charlotte  Bronte. 

2.  The  reader  or  the  spectator  who  would  fully  enjoy  ^15 
You  Like  It  must  accept  it  in  the  mood  in  which  it  was 
conceived.  He  knows  that  lions  do  not  range  French  or 
English  forests,  and  that  Rosalind,  though  in  man's  ap- 
parel, would  at  once  be  recognized  by  the  eyes  of  love. 
Yet  to  those  and  to  all  discrepancies  he  is  blind.  He  even 
can  assent  to  the  spectacle  of  Jaques  stretched  beside  the 
brawling  stream  at  the  foot  of  the  antique  oak,  speaking 
his  sermons  upon  human  weakness,  folly,  and  injustice, 
with  nobody  for  an  audience.  He  feels  himself  set  free 
from  the  world  of  hard  facts.     He  is  in  Arden. 

— William  Winter:  Old  Shrines  and  Ivy, 


THE  SENTENCE  59 

3.  There  is  a  pleasant  story  of  a  Cambridge  under- 
graduate finding  it  necessary  to  expound  the  four  alle- 
gorical figures  that  crown  the  parapet  of  Trinity  Library. 
They  are  the  Learned  Muses,  as  a  matter  of  fact.  "  Wliat 
are  those  figures,  Jack  ?  ^'  said  an  ardent  sister,  laboring 
under  the  false  feminine  impression  that  men  like  explain- 
ing things.  "  Those/'  said  Jack,  observing  them  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life — "  those  are  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity, 
of  course."  "  Oh !  but  there  are  four  of  them,"  said  the 
irrepressible  fair  one.  "  What  is  the  other  ?  "  Jack,  not 
to  be  dismayed,  gave  a  hasty  glance;  and,  observing  what 
may  be  called  philosophical  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
the  statue,  said  firmly,  "  That  is  Geography."     ( 

) 

A.  C.  Benson:  At  Large, 

4.  The  power-loom  had  recently  entered  upon  its  ca- 
reer, and  the  poor  hand-loom  weaver  was  called  to  take  the 
first  step  in  his  downward  progress.  His  wages  sank  about 
one-half.  .  .  .  Long  years  of  suffering  followed  to  those 
whose  fortunes  were  embarked  in  this  sinking  ship.  The 
hungry  weavers  invoked  the  help  of  Parliament.  .  .  . 
They  proposed  that  the  terrible  power-loom  should  be  re- 
strained by  law,  and  when  that  was  denied  them  fchey  rose 
in  their  despair  and  lawlessly  overthrew  the  machines  which 
were  devouring  the  bread  of  their  children.  They  craved 
that  a  legal  minimum  of  wages  should  be  fixed,  adequate  for 
the  maintenance  of  a  family.  Unfortunately  it  was  beyond 
human  power  to  grant  their  prayer.     ( 

) 

— R.    Mackenzie:   History   of   the   Nineteenth 
Century. 

5.  The  personality  of  Joan  of  Arc  was  so  strong  that 
her  life  takes  its  chief  interest  therefrom,  rather  than  from 
its  surroundings.     But  no  man  can  exist  apart  from  his 


60     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

circumstances;  these  must  in  any  case  be  the  field  of  his 
effort,  and  in  great  measure,  must  determine  the  means 
which  he  uses  and  the  end  which  he  proposes  to  reach. 
To  study  the  life  of  Joan  of  Arc  apart  from  the  life  of  her 
people  and  her  generation  is  no  less  absurd  than  to  regard 

her  as  their  type.     ( ) 

— Francis  Lowell  :  Joan  of  Arc. 
6.  So  true  are  these  avowals  at  the  present  day,  that  I  can 
now  only  take  the  reader  into  one  confidence  more.  Of  all 
my  books,  I  like  this  the  best.  It  will  be  easily  believed 
that  I  am  a  fond  parent  to  every  child  of  my  fancy,  and 
that  no  one  can  ever  love  that  family  as  dearly  as  I  love 
them.    But,  like  many  fond  parents,  I  have  in  my  heart  of 

hearts  a  favorite  child.     ( ) 

— Dickens:  Preface  to  David  Copperfield. 


*  8.  Sentences  Used  as  Models 

Write  original  sentences,  following  closely  in  rhe- 
torical structure  and  in  general  effect  the  models  given 
below.  The  sentences  should  he  based  upon  the  facts  of 
history  or  biography,  or  upon  actual  experience. 

Examples  : — 

(a)  We  have  portraits  of  all  sorts  of  men,  from 
Augustus  Caesar  to  the  King's  dwarf;  and  all 
sorts  of  portraits,  from  a  Titian  treasured  in  the 
Louvre  to  a  profile  over  the  grocer's  chimney-shelf. 

— Stevenson. 

(b)  There  are  stains  in  the  portrait  of  the  first 
George,  and  traits  in  it  which  none  of  us  need  ad- 
mire; but  among  the  nobler  features  are  justice, 


THE  SENTENCE  61 

courage,  moderation — and  these  we  may  recognize 
ere  we  turn  the  picture  to  the  wall. 

— Thackeray. 
Imitated  in  Structure: — 

(a)  History  keeps  records  of  innumerable  wars, 
from  the  time  of  Troy  to  our  own  young  century ; 
and  chronicles  the  exploits  of  victorious  generals, 
from  Achilles  to  Lord  Kitchener. 

(b)  There  were  defects  among  the  qualities  of 
the  Puritan  fathers,  and  their  lives  had  a  harsh- 
ness which  cannot  but  repel  us;  but  their  story 
shows  us  the  stern  beauty  of  piety,  self-sacrifice, 
love  of  freedom,  and  these  traits  we  should  honor 
as  the  virtues  of  our  country's  youth. 


1.  Like  his  great  contemporary.  Bacon,  he  left  the  world 
and  his  own  evil  time  behind  him,  and  with  the  same  quiet 
dignity  sought  the  innocence  and  stillness  of  country  life. 

— Stopford  Brooke. 

2.  Of  such  humor  as  this,  the  ancients  had  barely  a 
notion;  it  differs  from  theirs  as  the  man  differs  from  the 
baby;  and  seems  almost  like  a  new  sense,  peculiar  to  the 
modern  world. 

— W.   H.   Mallock. 

3.  Baffled,  discountenanced,  subdued,  discredited,  as  the 
cause  of  justice  and  humanity  is,  it  will  only  be  the  dearer 
to  me. 

— Burke. 

4.  It  is  only  when  we  review  the  strangely  mingled 
elements  which  make  up  the  poem  that  we  realize  the 
genius  which  fused  them  into  such  a  perfect  whole. 

— J.  E.  Green. 


62     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

5.  Of  Addison's  contributions  to  the  charity  of  the 
world,  I  have  spoken  before,  in  trying  to  depict  that  noble 
figure;  and  say  now,  as  then,  that  we  should  thank  him  as 
one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  that  vast  and  immeas- 
urably spreading  family  which  speaks  our  common  tongue. 

— Thackeray. 

6.  To  free  Scotland  from  the  control  of  an  unworthy 
aristocracy,  to  bid  the  dead  virtues  live  again  and  plant 
the  eternal  rules  in  tlie  consciences  of  the  people — this,  as  I 
understand  it,  was  what  Knox  was  working  at,  and  it  was 
a  comparatively  simple  thing. 

— Feoude. 


CHAPTEE  III 
THE  PAKAGKAPH 

1.  Limiting  the  Subject 

Limit  each  of  the  subjects  given  below  to  a  topic  that 
can  be  adequately  discussed  in  a  paragraph  of  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  words. 

Examples. — The  subject,  "  Shakespeare,"  may  be  lim- 
ited to  the  topic,  "  The  surroundings  of  Shake- 
speare's boyhood  " ;  the  subject,  "Architecture,"  to 
"  The  modem  office-building." 

1.  The  Spanish- American  war. 

2.  Music. 

3.  Citizenship. 

4.  Fairy  tales. 

5.  The  drama. 

6.  Winter. 

7.  West  Point. 

8.  Napoleon. 

9.  Longfellow. 
10.  Canada. 

2.  The  Topic-Sentence 

In  the  following  paragraphs,  the  topic  is  definitely  stated 
in  the  opening  sentence,  which  may  therefore  be  called  the 
topic-sentence. 

63 


64    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

1.  Some  kinds  of  traveler's  joy  are  common  to  every 
journey.  To  all  except  very  distinguished  people  there  is 
a  sense  of  escape,  a  loosening  of  habit's  fetters,  and  a 
pleasing  loss  of  identity.  There  is  always  the  hope  that 
the  people  and  things  we  may  meet  will  be  more  agreeable 
than  the  people  and  things  we  are  accustomed  to.  There 
is  the  still  more  glorious  hope  that  the  traveler  himself 
may  become  more  agreeable  also.  And  behind  such  hope 
lie  all  the  inherited  joys  of  nomad  life, — the  uncertainty 
of  the  next  night,  the  sense  of  space  and  air,  the  natural 
divisions  of  light  and  darkness,  the  exposure  to  the  sun  and 
wind  and  rain, — upon  which  things  perhaps  too  much  has 
been  said  of  late;  for  the  less  said  the  less  spoiled. 

— H.  W.  Nevinson  :  On  the  Road  Through  France 
to  Florence. 

2.  When  one  is  at  home,  how  one*s  affections  grow 
about  everything  in  the  neighborhood!  I  always  thought 
with  fondness  of  this  corner  of  Devon,  but  what  was  that 
compared  with  the  love  which  now  strengthens  in  me  day 
by  day!  Beginning  with  my  house,  every  stick  and  stone 
of  it  is  dear  to  me  as  my  heart's  blood ;  I  find  myself  lay- 
ing an  affectionate  hand  on  the  door-post,  giving  a  pat,  as 
I  go  by,  to  the  garden  gate.  Every  tree  and  shrub  in  the 
garden  is  my  beloved  friend;  I  touch  them  when  need  is, 
very  tenderly,  as  though  carelessness  might  pain,  or  rough- 
ness injure  them.  If  I  pull  up  a  weed  in  the  walk,  I  look 
at  it  with  a  certain  sadness  before  throwing  it  away;  it 
belongs  to  my  home. 

— George   Gissing:   Private  Papers   of  Henry 
Ryecroft. 

On  each  of  the  following  subjects  write  a  paragraph 
of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  words,  beginning  with  a 
topic-sentence : — 


THE  PARAGEAPH  65 

1.  School  prizes. 

2.  An  ideal  holiday. 

3.  Popular  songs. 

4.  My  favorite  villain  in  fiction. 

5.  Traveling  libraries. 

6.  Eivalry  among  American  cities. 

7.  Athletics  for  girls. 

8.  The  animals  in  Kipling's  "Jungle  Books." 

9.  The  Panama  Canal. 
10.  Amateur  photography. 

3.  Paragraph  Unity 

A.  The  substance  of  a  well-constructed  paragraph 
can  usually  he  expressed  in  a  single  sentence.  In  this 
way  the  unity  of  the  paragraph  may  he  tested.  Ex- 
press in  single  sentences  the  central  thoughts  of  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs: — 

Example. — "  I  take  it  for  granted,  gentlemen,  that  we 
sympathize  in  a  proper  horror  of  all  punishment 
further  than  as  it  serves  for  an  example.  To 
whom  then  does  the  example  of  an  execution  in 
England  for  this  American  rebellion  apply?  Ke- 
member,  you  are  told  every  day  that  the  present 
is  a  contest  between  two  countries ;  and  that  we  in 
England  are  at  war  for  our  own  dignity  against 
our  rebellious  children.  Is  this  true?  If  it  be, 
it  is  surely  among  such  rebellious  children  that  ex- 
amples for  disobedience  should  be  made,  to  be  in 
any  degree  instructive;  for  who  ever  thought  of 
teaching  parents  their  duty  by  an  example  from 
the  punishment  of  an  undutiful  son?     As  well 


66     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

might  the  execution  of  a  fugitive  negro  in  the  plan- 
tations be  considered  as  a  lesson  to  teach  masters 
humanity  to  their  slaves.  Such  executions  may  in- 
deed satiate  our  revenge;  they  may  harden  our 
hearts,  and  puff  us  up  with  pride  and  arrogance. 
Alas !  this  is  not  instruction !  " 

— BuEKE ;  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol, 
The  substance  of  the  foregoing  paragraph  may 
be  expressed  in  the  sentence :  "  The  execution  of 
an  American  rebel  in  England  can  serve  no  useful 
purpose,  for  it  will  not  be  an  instructive  example 
to  the  Americans." 

1.  You  may  here  remark  that,  so  far  as  we  have  gone, 
the  Scottish  Parliament  entirely  resembled  the  English  in 
the  nature  of  its  Constitution.  But  there  was  this  very 
material  difference  in  the  mode  of  transacting  business, 
that  in  England,  the  peers,  or  great  nobility,  with  the 
bishops  and  great  abbots,  sat,  deliberated  and  voted,  in  a 
body  by  themselves,  which  was  called  the  House  of  Lords, 
or  of  Peers,  and  the  representatives  of  the  counties  or 
shires,  together  with  those  of  the  boroughs,  occupied  a  dif- 
ferent place  of  meeting,  and  were  called  the  Lower  House, 
or  the  House  of  Commons.  In  Scotland,  on  the  contrary, 
the  nobles,  prelates,  representatives  for  the  shires  and  dele- 
gates for  the  boroughs  all  sat  in  the  same  apartment  and 
debated  and  voted  as  members  of  the  same  assembly. 
Since  the  union  of  the  kingdom  of  England  and  Scotland, 
the  Parliament,  which  represents  both  countries,  sits  and 
votes  in  two  distinct  bodies,  called  the  two  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  there  are  many  advantages  attending  that  form 
of  conducting  the  national  business. 

— Scott:  Tales  of  a  Grandfather, 


THE  PARAGRAPH  67 

2.  It  has  always  been  of  prime  interest  to  men — ^savage 
and  civilized — ^to  evoke  the  heat  which  lies  hid  everywhere 
in  nature  and  kindle  it  into  flame.  Possibly  the  care 
which  was  taken  to  keep  lights  continually  burning  in  cer- 
tain temples,  and  around  which  religious  sanctions  ulti- 
mately gathered,  had  its  origin  in  the  experienced  difficulty 
of  kindling  light.  But  never  was  any  widespread  and 
urgent  human  want  so  imperfectly  supplied.  The  earliest 
method  of  obtaining  fire  was  by  the  friction  of  two  pieces 
of  dried  wood.  The  next  was  the  striking  together  of 
steel  and  flint.  These  two  rude  methods  of  obtaining  the 
indispensable  assistance  of  fire  have  served  man  during 
almost  the  whole  of  his  career.  Only  so  recently  as  about 
the  time  of  the  first  Reform  Bill  has  he  been  able  to  com- 
mand the  services  of  a  more  convenient  agency. 

— R.    Mackenzie:    History   of   the    Nineteenth 
Century. 

3.  No  greater  contrast  of  conditions  could  exist  than 
between  the  school  life  of  what  we  love  to  call  the  "good 
old  times''  and  that  of  the  far  better  times  of  to-day. 
Poor,  small,  and  uncomfortable  schoolhouses,  scant  fur- 
nishings, few  and  uninteresting  books,  tiresome  and  indif- 
ferent methods  of  teaching,  great  severity  of  discipline, 
were  the  accompaniments  of  school  days  until  this  century. 
Yet  with  all  these  disadvantages  children  obtained  an  edu- 
cation, for  an  education  was  warmly  desired;  no  diffi- 
culties could  chill  that  deep-lying  longing  for  learning. 
"  Child,"  said  one  noble  New  England  mother  of  the  olden 
days,  "if  God  make  thee  a  good  Christian  and  a  good 
scholar,  'tis  all  thy  mother  ever  asked  for  thee." 

— Alice  Morse  Earle:  Child-Life  in  Colonial 
Days. 

4.  Chivalry  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  kind  of 
family,  and  as  a  natural  result  of  that  idea  sprang  up  the 


68     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

science  of  heraldry  and  the  habit  of  armorial  bearings. 
The  warriors  of  antiquity,  it  is  true,  caused  to  be  painted 
on  their  shields  their  banners,  and  their  arms,  the  devices, 
colours  and  emblems  by  which  they  might  be  distinguished 
from  a  distance;  but  these  symbols  were  essentially  per- 
sonal and  peculiar  to  the  individuals  who  wore  them. 
Mediaeval  heraldry  was  a  totally  different  thing;  armorial 
bearings  formed  a  family  distinction,  the  more  important 
in  proportion  as  it  could  be  traced  further  back. 

— G.  Masson  :  The  Story  of  Mediceval  France. 

5.  When  one  thinks  of  the  resounding  chorus  of  grat- 
ulations  with  which  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
discovery  of  America  was  heralded  to  a  listening  world,  it 
is  curious  and  instructive  to  notice  the  sort  of  comment 
which  that  great  event  called  forth  upon  the  occasion  of 
its  third  centenary,  while  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  was  as  yet  a  novel  and  ill-appreciated  fact.  In 
America  very  little  fuss  was  made.  Railways  were  as  yet 
unknown,  and  the  era  of  world's  fairs  had  not  begun.  Of 
local  celebrations  there  were  two:  one  held  in  New  York, 
the  other  in  Boston;  and  as  in  1892,  so  in  1792,  New  York 
followed  the  old  style  date,  the  twelftli  "of  October,  while 
Boston  undertook  to  correct  the  date  for  new  style.  This 
work  was  discreditably  bungled,  however,  and  the  twenty- 
third  of  October  was  selected  instead  of  the  true  date,  the 
twenty-first.  In  New  York  the  affair  was  conducted  by 
the  newly  founded  political  society  named  for  the  Delaware 
chieftain  Tammany;  in  Boston  by  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society,  whose  founder.  Dr.  Jeremy  Belknap,  de- 
livered a  thoughtful  and  scholarly  address  upon  the  occa- 
sion. Both  commemorations  of  the  day  were  very  quiet 
and  modest. 

— Fiske:   Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors, 

6.  Adam  Smith  completed  the  Wealth  of  Nations  in 


THE  PARAGEAPH  69 

1776,  and  our  English,  political  economy  is  therefore  just 
a  hundred  years  old.  In  that  time  it  has  had  a  wonder- 
ful effect.  The  life  of  almost  everyone  in  England — per- 
haps of  everyone — is  different  and  better  in  consequence  of 
it.  The  whole  commercial  policy  of  the  country  is  not  so 
much  founded  on  it  as  instinct  with  it.  Ideas  which  are 
paradoxes  everywhere  else  in  the  world  are  accepted  axioms 
here  as  results  of  it.  No  other  form  of  political  philosophy 
has  ever  had  one  thousandth  part  of  the  influence  on  us; 
its  teachings  have  settled  down  into  the  common  sense  of 
the  nation,  and  have  become  irreversible. 

— Bagehot:  Economic  Studies, 


B.  The  following  selections,  as  originally  written, 
consisted  of  several  paragraphs.  At  what  points  should 
the  paragraph  divisions  he  made  f 

1,  Louis  XVI  next  called  a  Swiss  minister  named 
Necker  to  manage  his  finances.  Necker  was  an  honest  man, 
and  clever  in  the  banking  business.  He  did  not  under- 
stand the  needs  of  France  as  Turgot  did,  but  he  tried  his 
best  to  keep  things  in  order  without  making  any  startling 
changes.  For  five  years  he  kept  his  office,  and  this  gave 
France  a  little  rest.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  English 
colonies  in  America,  led  by  George  Washington,  revolted 
against  the  English  rule.  They  sent  to  ask  help  from 
France.  The  French  philosophers,  who  were  always  talk- 
ing and  writing  about  liberty,  were  full  of  sympathy  with 
the  rebels,  and  the  king  thought  it  a  splendid  opportunity 
for  humbling  England.  So  French  troops  were  sent  to 
help  the  Americans,  and  young  Frenchmen  fighting  under 
Washington's  leadership  learnt  a  new  love  of  liberty.  One 
young  nobleman,  the  Marquis  of  Lafayette,  left  the  French 
court  only  a  few  days  after  his  marriage,  that  he  might  go 


10    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

and  fight  by  the  side  of  Washington.  In  this  way  some, 
even  of  the  French  nobility,  were  made  to  feel  that  the  old 
state  of  things  to  which  they  were  used  in  France  could 
not  last  forever.  In  1783  peace  was  signed  at  Versailles 
and  England  was  obliged  to  recognize  the  independence  of 
the  United  States.  This  war  had  cost  a  great  deal  of 
money.  Necker  got  an  idea  that  it  would  be  well  to  let 
people  know  how  the  finances  of  the  government  were  man- 
aged, and  in  this  way  to  increase  their  confidence  in  him. 
He  therefore  published  a  report  of  the  finances.  This  ex- 
cited much  indignation.  In  France  it  had  been  the  cus- 
tom to  keep  these  things  quite  secret;  now,  it  was  said, 
Necker  wished  to  imitate  the  English,  and  make  the  king 
only  the  servant  of  his  subjects.  Necker  was  obliged  to 
leave  the  ministry. 

— A.  Creighton  :  A  First  History  of  France. 
2.  My  early  recollections  of  the  Highland  scenery  and 
customs  made  so  favourable  an  impression  in  the  poem 
called  The  Lady  of  the  Lahe,  that  I  was  induced  to 
think  of  attempting  something  of  the  same  kind  in  prose. 
I  had  been  a  good  deal  in  the  Highlands  at  a  time  when 
they  were  much  less  accessible  and  much  less  visited  than 
they  have  been  of  late  years,  and  was  acquainted  with 
many  of  the  old  warriors  of  1745,  who  were,  like  most  vet- 
erans, easily  induced  to  fight  their  battles  over  again  for 
the  benefit  of  a  willing  listener  like  myself.  It  naturally 
occurred  to  me  that  the  ancient  traditions  and  high  spirit 
of  a  people  who,  living  in  a  civilized  age  and  country,  re- 
tained so  strong  a  tincture  of  manners  belonging  to  an 
early  period  of  society,  must  afford  a  subject  favourable  to 
romance,  if  it  should  not  prove  a  curious  tale  marred  in  the 
telling.  It  was  with  some  idea  of  this  kind  that,  about  the 
year  1805,  1  threw  together  about  one-third  of  the  first 
volume  of  Waverley.    It  was  advertised  to  be  published 


THE  PARAGKAPH  11 

by  the  late  Mr.  John  Ballantyne,  bookseller  in  Edinburgh, 
under  the  name  of  "  Waverley :  or  'Tis  Fifty  Years  Since," 
a  title  afterward  altered  to  "  'Tis  Sixty  Years  Since,"  that 
the  actual  date  of  publication  might  be  made  to  correspond 
with  the  period  in  which  the  scene  was  laid.  Having  pro- 
ceeded as  far,  I  think,  as  the  seventh  chapter,  I  showed  my 
book  to  a  critical  friend  whose  opinion  was  unfavourable; 
and  having  then  some  poetical  reputation,  I  was  unwilling 
to  risk  the  loss  of  it  by  attempting  a  new  style  of  compo- 
sition. I  therefore  threw  aside  the  work  I  had  com- 
menced, without  either  reluctance  or  remonstrance.  I 
ought  to  add  that  though  my  ingenious  friend's  sentence 
was  afterward  reversed  on  an  appeal  to  the  public,  it  can- 
not be  considered  as  any  imputation  on  his  good  taste,  for 
the  specimen  subjected  to  his  criticism  did  not  extend  be- 
yond the  departure  of  the  hero  for  Scotland,  and,  conse- 
quently, had  not  entered  upon  the  part  of  the  story  which 
was  finally  found  most  interesting.  Be  that  as  it  may,  this 
portion  of  the  manuscript  was  laid  aside  in  the  drawers 
of  an  old  writing-desk,  which,  on  my  first  coming  to  reside 
at  Abbotsford  in  1811,  was  placed  in  a  lumber  garret,  and 
entirely  forgotten.  Thus,  though  I  sometimes,  among 
other  literary  avocations,  turned  my  thoughts  to  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  romance  which  I  had  commenced,  yet  as  I 
could  not  find  what  I  had  already  written,  after  search- 
ing such  repositories  as  were  within  my  reach,  and  was  too 
indolent  to  attempt  to  write  it  anew  from  memory,  I  as 
often  laid  aside  all  thoughts  of  that  nature. 

— Scott:  Preface  to  Waverley, 


4.  Paragraph  Coherence 

A.     The  folloiving  lists  of  related  topics  contain  md' 
terial  for  development  into  paragraphs  of  about  one 


72     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

hundred  and  fifty  ivords  each.     Secure  coherence  by 
arranging  the  topics  in  logical  order  of  sequence. 

Example: — A  period  in  the  study-hall. 

(a)  The  idler  in  the  study-hall. 

(b)  Just  before  the  beginning  of  the  period. 

(c)  The  study-hall  as  a  test  of  character. 

(d)  Just  before  the  end  of  the  period. 

(e)  The  pupil  who  needs  his  study  period. 

Arranged  in  logical  order. 

(a)  The  study-hall  as  a  test  of  character. 

(b)  Just  before  the  beginning  of  the  period. 

(c)  The  idler  in  the  study-hall. 

(d)  The  pupil  who  needs  his  study  period. 

(e)  Just  before  the  end  of  the  period. 

1.  A  period  in  the  gymnasium. 

(a)  Some  of  the  exercises. 

(b)  Before  the  instruction  begins. 

(c)  Popularity  of  the  gymnasium  period. 

(d)  The  end  of  the  period. 

(e)  Arrangement  of  pupils  for  work. 

2.  The  use  of  the  telephone. 

(a)  The  business  man's  use  of  the  telephone. 

(b)  The  superseding  of  letter- writing  by  telephone  com- 

munication. 

(c)  The  difficulty  of  conceiving  present-day  life  with- 

out the  telephone. 

(d)  The  housekeeper's  dependence  upon  the  telephone. 

B.  Develop  each  list  of  topics  given  in  the  preceding 
exercise  into  a  paragraph  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
ivords. 


THE  PARAGEAPH  73 

C.  The  following  lists  contain  material  for  two  re- 
lated paragraphs.  Divide  each  list  into  two  paragraph- 
groups. 

Example  : — The  typical  high  school  paper. 

(a)  Character  of  literary  material. 

(b)  By  whom  edited. 

(c)  Contents. 

(d)  Advantages  of  being  an  editor. 

(e)  Size  and  appearance. 

(f)  How  editors  are  chosen. 
Divided  into  two  paragraph-groups. 

(a)  Size  and  appearance. 

(b)  Contents. 

(c)  Character  of  literary  material. 

(a)  By  whom  edited. 

(b)  How  editors  are  chosen. 

(c)  Advantages  of  being  an  editor. 

1.  Picture  post-cards. 

(a)  Artistic  merit  of  some. 

(b)  Their  popularity  as  souvenirs. 

(c)  Their  great  vogue. 

(d)  What  they  are. 

(e)  Their  popularity  as  substitutes  for  letters. 

(f)  Different  kinds. 

2,  Mark  Twain. 

(a)  Some  famous  characters  in  his  books. 

(b)  Reasons  for  his  popularity. 

(c)  His  best-known  works. 

(d)  Affection  with  which  he  is  regarded  by  the  public. 

(e)  Eank  among  American  humorists. 

(f)  The  boys'  favorites  among  his  books. 

D.  Develop  each  list  given  in  the  preceding  exercise 


H    CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

into  two  related  paragraphs  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  words  each* 

E.  Fill  the  hlanks  in  the  paragraphs  given  helow 
with  words  or  phrases,  marking  the  relation  between  the 
thoughts, 

(Examples  of  words  and  phrases  indicating  relation 
of  thought:  But,  moreover,  indeed,  of  course,  undoubt- 
edly, in  the  first  place,  such,  thus.) 

A. 

1.  The  college  presidents,  apparently,  are  even  more 
oppressed  than  other  men  by  the  contradictions  of  our 

times.     There  are,    ( ),  many  such  contradictions. 

Never  was  talk  of  peace  and  the  aspiration  for  universal 

peace  so  loudly  spoken;  ( )  the  two  most  civilized 

nations  of  the  world  are  waging  wars  which  many  of  their 

critics   think  horribly  unjustifiable.   .    .    .    ( ),   no 

year  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  seen  such  magnificent 

gifts  to  philanthropy  and  education.   .    .    .    ( )   in 

this  very  year  there  have  been  combinations  of  capital 
the  like  of  which  the  world  has  never  dreamed  of,  and 
which  many  shrewd  observers  believe  threaten  the  welfare 
of  the  working  man. 

— H.  E.  Hersey:  Talks  to  Girls. 

2.  Are  we  to  be  spirits  or  intelligent  brutes;  men  or 

mere  machines?     ( )    is  the  question  now  put,  as 

it  has  never  been  put  before,  to  the  nations  of  the 
West,  and  pre-eminently  to  the  people  of  these  states. 

( ),  were   I  an  American,   I  should  not  question 

the  capacity  of  my  countrymen  to  answer  it,  and  to  answer 
it  in  the  best  and  most  fruitful   sense.     ( )    the 


THE  PAEAGRAPH  75 

consciousness  of  the  immensity  of  the  problem  would,  I 
think,  check  at  the  birth  any  tendency  which  I  might  other- 
wise have  indulged  to  premature  exultation.     ( ) 

I  should  feel  that  the  work  had  hardly  been  begun,  that 

the  foundations  were  barely  laid;  ( ),  that  the  very 

plan  of  the  building  was  not  yet  drawn  up.     ( ), 

looking  across  the  ocean,  to  Europe  and  the  far  East,  I 

should  be  anxious  not,  ( ) ,  to  imitate  the  forms,  but 

to  appropriate  the  inspiration  of  that  ancient  world. 

— G.  Lowes  Dickinson:  Letters  from  a  Chinese 
Official.'- 

3.  In  all  relations  with  students  school  and  college  of- 
ficers should,  ( ),  be  as  open  as  they  can  be  with- 
out violating  the   confidence   of  other  men.      ( ), 

no  school  or  college  officer  should  refuse  to  be  open  from 
the  notion  that  openness  means  loss  of  dignity.  Dignity 
is  most  easily  lost  by  him  who  thinks  too  much  about  it; 
( )  is  the  dignity  of  any  two  men  alike.  Presi- 
dent Eliot's,  ( ),  differs  materially  from  President 

Roosevelt's;  and  we  can  hardly  imagine  their  swapping; 
( )  each  of  these  gentlemen  has  in  his  own  way  ex- 
traordinary power  over  men. 

— L.  B.  R.  Briggs  :  Routine  and  Ideals, 

5.  We  agree  with  Lord  Mahon  in  thinking  highly  of 

the  Whigs  of  Queen  Anne's  reign.     ( )   that  part 

of  their  conduct  which  he  selects  for  especial  praise  is 
precisely  the  part  which  we  think  most  objectionable.  We 
revere  them  as  the  great  champions  of  political  and  of  in- 
tellectual liberty.     ( ),  when  raised  to  power,  they 

were  not  exempt  from  the  faults  which  power  naturally 
engenders.  ( )  they  were  men  born  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  and  .  .  .  therefore  ignorant  of  many 
truths  which  are  familiar  to  men  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 

'  Published,  and  copyright,  by  The  S.  S.  McClure  Company. 


16     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

tury;  ( )  they  were  .  .  .  the  leaders  of  their  spe- 
cies in  a  right  direction.     ( )  they  did  not  allow  to 

political  discussion  that  latitude  which  to  us  appears  rea- 
sonable and  safe;  ( )  to  them  we  owe  the  removal 

of  the  censorship.     ( )  that  they  did  not  carry  the 

principle  of  religious  toleration  to  its  full  extent ;  ( ) 

to  them  we  owe  the  Toleration  Act. 

— Macaulay:  War  of  the  Succession  in  Spain. 
6.  A  text-book  is  always  employed  in  teaching  physics 
and  chemistry,  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  in  teach- 
ing natural  history.  ( )  unlike  the  methods  com- 
monly found  in  American  and  English  schools,  Ger- 
man teachers  use  these  books  for  reference  only.     It  is 

not  expected,    ( ),   that  they   will   take   the   place 

of  the  elaborate  compendiums  found  in  each  schoolroom; 
they  are  mere  outlines  of  the  subject,  intended  to  assist  the 
pupil  in  making  scientific  classifications,  not  for  purposes 

of  recitation.     ( )  as  we  have  repeatedly  observed, 

the  German  teacher  never  assigns  a  lesson  in  advance  to 

be  studied  out  at  home.    Recitations,  ( ) ,  at  least  in 

the  American  sense,  are  unknown. 

— Russell:  German  Higher  Schools, 


5.  Paragraph  Emphasis, 

A.  On  the  topics  given  below,  write  paragraphs  in 
which  the  beginning  is  made  emphatic  by  a  short  intro- 
ductory sentence.    See  Exercise  7-A,  Page  55. 

1.  Late  for  school. 

2.  A  tame  animal  I  have  known. 

3.  Failing  in  an  examination. 

4.  A  statesman  of  to-day. 

5.  A  heroine  of  history. 


THE  PAEAGKAPH  77 

6.  The  pleasantest  day  of  the  week. 

7.  Giving  the  dog  his  bath. 

8.  A  visit  to  the  photographer. 

9.  The  game  that  we  lost. 

10.  Election  day. 

B.     Rewrite  the  paragraphs  called  for  in  Exercise  A, 
using  short  concluding  sentences, 

6.  Related  Paragraphs. 

A.  From  each  of  the  subjects  given  in  the  following 
list  derive  general  topics  for  two  related  paragraphs: — 

Example  : — 

Street-car  advertisements. 

(a)  The  insistent  nature  of  street-car  advertisements. 

(b)  The  merit  of  some  advertisements. 

1.  Having  a  hobby. 

2.  My  favorite  game. 

3.  The  one-cent  newspaper. 

4.  Schoolboy  honor. 

5.  A  boy's  idea  of  humor. 

6.  A  schoolgirl's  idea  of  humor. 

7.  Ocean  travel,  past  and  present. 

8.  The  fashion  magazine. 

9.  Being  just  an  average  student. 

10.  Learning  to  skate. 

B.  Write   opening  sentences   (topic-sentences)   for 
the  paragraphs  on  the  topics  suggested  in  Exercise  A. 

Example  : — 

Street-car  advertisements. 

(a)  No  one  who  rides  can  hope  to  escape  from  the  ad- 
vertisements that  decorate  our  street-cars. 


IS    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

(b)   Some  of  these  advertisements  are  evidently  the 
work  of  persons  of  real  ability. 

C.  Develop  the  topic-sentences  called  for  in  the  pre- 
ceding exercise  into  paragraphs  of  about  one  hundred 
words  each. 


D.  From  the  subjects  given  in  the  following  list, 
derive  general  topics  for  three  or  more  related  para- 
graphs:— 

Example  : — 

Fraternities  in  the  high  schools. 

(a)  Recent  criticism  of  high  school  fraternities. 

(b)  Explanation  of  nature  and  purpose  of  fraterni- 

ties. 

(c)  Value  of  pupils'  views  on  this  subject. 

1.  The  peace  conference  at  The  Hague. 

2.  Helen  Keller. 

3.  The  Rhodes  scholarships. 

4.  The  popular  magazine. 

5.  Air-ships. 

6.  Using  slang. 

7.  How  to  train  a  dog. 

8.  Vacation  work. 

9.  A  popular  author. 

10.  The  public  library. 

11.  The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals. 

12.  The  kind  of  vacation  I  should  like  best. 

E.  Write  opening  sentences  (topic-sentences)  for 
the  paragraphs  on  the  topics  suggested  in  Exercise  D. 


THE  PARAGRAPH  79 

Example  : — 

1.  Fraternities  in  the  high  schools. 

(a)  The  school  authorities  of  some  of  our  large  cities 

have  recently  been  very  active  in  opposing  the 
existence  of  fraternities  in  the  high  schools. 

(b)  The  purpose  of  a  school  or  college  fraternity  is 

to  associate  as  closely  as  possible  a  group  of 
students  who  have  common  interests. 

(c)  In  a  matter  which  affects  the  school  life  of  a 

number  of  pupils,  the  views  of  the  pupils  have 
some  bearing  on  the  question. 

F.  Develop  the  topic-sentences  called  for  in  the  pre- 
ceding exercise  into  paragraphs  of  about  one  hundred 
words  each. 


CHAPTEE  IV 

KHYTHM 

I.  Line  Division  of  Blank  Verse 

The  following  passages,  though  printed  in  prose  form, 
are  in  reality  hlanh  verse.  Rewrite  them,  making  the 
proper  line-divisions. 

Example. — "  Yet  as  he  goes  he  ponders  at  the  helm  of 
that  bright  island;  where  he  feared  to  touch,  his 
spirit  readventures,  and  for  years,  where  by  his 
wife  he  slumbers  safe  at  home,  thoughts  of  that 
land  revisit  him;  he  sees  the  eternal  mountains 
beckon  and  awakes  yearning  for  that  far  home  that 
might  have  been." 

— Stevenson  :  To  N,  V.  de  G,  8. 

Rewritten  : — 

Yet  as  he  goes  he  ponders  at  the  helm, 
Of  that  bright  island ;  where  he  feared  to  touch, 
His  spirit  readventures ;  and  for  years. 
Where  by  his  wife  he  slumbers  safe  at  home, 
Thoughts  of  that  land  revisit  him ;  he  sees 
The  eternal  mountains  beckon  and  awakes 
Yearning  for  that  far  home  that  might  have  been. 

80 


EHYTHM  81 

1.  An  aged  man  now  entered,  and  without  one  word, 
slept  slowly  on,  and  took  the  wrist  of  the  pale  maiden.  She 
looked  up  and  saw  the  fillet  of  the  priest  and  calm  cold 
eyes.  Then  turned  she  where  her  parents  stood,  and  cried, 
"  0  father !  grieve  no  more :  the  ships  can  sail." 

— Landok. 

2.  Push  off,  and  sitting  well  in  order  smite  the  sound- 
ing furrows;  for  my  purpose  holds  to  sail  beyond  the  sun- 
set, and  the  baths  of  all  the  western  stars,  until  I  die. 

— Tennyson". 

3.  Soon  with  a  roaring  rose  the  mighty  fire,  and  the 
pile  crackled ;  and  between  the  logs  sharp  quivering  tongues 
of  flame  shot  out  and  leaped,  curling  and  darting  higher, 
until  they  licked  the  summit  of  the  pile,  the  dead,  the 
mast,  and  ate  the  shrivelling  sails ;  but  still  the  ship  drove 
on,  ablaze  above  the  hull  with  fire. 

— Matthew  Arnold. 

4.  Only  the  mountains  that  must  feed  my  springs  year 
after  year  and  every  year  with  snows  as  they  have  fed  in- 
numerable years, — these  mountains  they  are  evermore  the 
same,  rooted  and  motionless;  the  solemn  heavens  are  ever- 
more the  same  in  stable  rest. 

— James  Thomson  (B.V.). 

5.  And  fifty  knights  rode  with  them  to  the  shores  of 
Severn,  and  they  past  to  their  own  land.  And  there  he 
kept  the  justice  of  the  King  so  vigorously,  yet  mildly,  that 
all  hearts  applauded,  and  the  spiteful  whisper  died. 

— Tennyson. 

6.  Thither  I  came,  and  there  amid  the  gloom  spread  by 
a  brotherhood  of  lofty  elms,  appeared  a  roofless  hut,  four 
naked  walls  that  stared  upon  each  other !  I  looked  round, 
and  to  my  wish  and  to  my  hope  espied  the  friend  I  sought, 
a  man  of  reverend  age. 

— Wordsworth. 


82     CONSTKUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

2.  Restoring  Rhythm 

In  the  following  hlanh  verse  selections,  the  word  order 
in  each  line  has  been  changed  and  the  rhythm  destroyed 
in  consequence.  Rearrange  the  words  in  each  line,  re- 
storing the  rhythm. 

Example  : — 

Mountains  of  snow  roll  their  gathering  terrors, 
From  steep  to  steep  they  come  loud  thundering  down, 
A  wintry  waste  all  in  dire  commotion. 
And  herds  and  flocks  and  swains  and  travelers 
Are  whelmed  deep  beneath  the  smothering  ruin. 

Reaeranged  : — 

Mountains  of  snow  their  gathering  terrors  roll, 
From  steep  to  steep  loud  thundering  down  they  come, 
A  wintry  waste  all  in  commotion  dire, 
And  herds  and  flocks  and  travelers  and  swains 
Beneath  the  smothering  ruin  deep  are  whelmed. 

— Thomson's  Seasons. 


In  heaps  on  heaps,  sails  the  doubling  vapour 
Along  the  loaded  sky  and,  deep  mingling. 
Sits,  a  settled  gloom,  on  the  horizon  round. 
Not  such  as  wintry  storms  shed  on  mortals, 
Oppressing  life,  but  kind,  lovely,  gentle. 

— Altered  from  Thomson's  Seasons. 
A  fountain  near,  broad-lipped  and  vase-shapen, 
Where  with  tiny  feet  timorous  birds  alight 
And  hesitate  and  bend  listening  wise  ears 
And  with  undipped  beak  fly  away  again. 
— Altered  from  George  Eliot's  Spanish  Gypsy. 


RHYTHM  83 

3.  And  there  where  the  road  divides  they  parted, 
Withdrew  there,  the  victor  and  the  vanquished — 
They  to  die  and  he  to  the  festal  board. 

— Altered  from  Rogers's  Italy, 

4.  Yet  with  great  gifts  and  a  noble  nature 
Was  he  endow'd — wit,  discretion,  courage. 
An  ample  soul,  and  an  equal  temper. 

— Altered  from  Sir  Henry  Taylor's  Philip  van 
Artevelde. 


*  3.  Altering  Prose  to  Blank  Verse 

*  The  difference  between  rhythmical  prose  and  blank 
verse  is  often  very  slight,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  illus- 
trations given  below.  In  each  case  a  few  changes  in 
diction  and  in  word  order  have  been  sufficient  to  trans- 
form the  prose  into  fairly  correct  blank  verse. 

Examples  : — 

(a)  With  that  he  gathered  the  clouds  and  troubled  the 
waters  of  the  deep,  grasping  his  trident  in  his  hands,  and 
he  roused  all  storms  of  all  manner  of  winds,  and  shrouded 
in  clouds  the  land  and  sea. 

— Odyssey:  Butcher  and  Lang's  Translation. 

Blank  Verse  : — 

Soon  as  he  spake  the  clouds  he  gathered  close, 
And  troubled  all  the  waters  of  the  deep. 
His  trident  grasping  in  his  mighty  hands ; 
Then  all  the  winds  he  roused  to  sudden  storm, 
And  shrouded  land  and  sea  in  darkening  clouds. 

(b)  In  the  midst  there  stands,  with  boughs  and  aged 
arms  outspread,  a  massive  elm,  of  broad  shade,  the  chosen 


84     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

seat,  so  Rumor  tells,  of  bodiless  dreams,  which  cling  close 

to  its  every  leaf. 

— ^neid:  Conington's  Translation. 

Blank  Verse  : — 

There  in  the  midst  a  massive  elm-tree  stands. 
With  boughs  and  aged  arms  spread  broad  in  shade. 
The  chosen  seat,  so  Rumor  tells,  of  dreams, 
Which  cling,  all  bodiless,  to  every  leaf. 

Change  the  following  prose  selections  into  hlanh  verse, 
making  only  such  alterations  in  diction  and  word  order 
as  are  necessitated  by  the  rhythm: — 

1.  Making  the  tackling  fast  throughout  the  swift  black 
ship,  the  men  brought  bowls  brimming  with  wine;  and  to 
the  gods  that  never  die  and  never  have  been  born  they 
poured  it  forth,  chiefest  of  all  to  her,  the  clear-eyed  child 
of  Zeus. 

— Odyssey:  G.  H.  Palmer's  Translation. 

2.  Straightway  he  bound  beneath  his  feet  his  lovely 
golden  sandals  that  wax  not  old,  that  bare  him  alike  over 
the  wet  sea  and  over  the  limitless  land,  swift  as  the 
breath  of  the  wind. 

— Odyssey:  Butcher  and  Lang's  Translation. 

3.  There  are  two  gates  of  Sleep :  the  one,  as  story  tells, 
of  horn,  supplying  a  ready  exit  for  true  spirits;  the  other 
gleaming  with  the  polish  of  dazzling  ivory,  but  through 
it  the  powers  below  send  false  dreams  to  the  world  above. 

— ^neid:  Conington's  Translation. 

4.  Nay,  they  stood  firm  and  embattled  like  a  steep  rock 
and  a  great,  hard  by  the  hoary  sea,  a  rock  that  abides  the 
swift  baths  of  the  shrill  winds  and  the  swelling  waves  that 
roar  against  it. 

— Iliad:  Lang,  Leaf  and  Myers*  Translation, 


RHYTHM  85 

4.  Completing  Selections 

Fill  the  hlanhs  in  the  folloiving  selections  with  appro- 
priate words,  considering  both  metre  and  meaning: — 

(A  few  words  of  explanation  may  possibly  be  needed 
to  prevent  this  exercise  from  seeming  unduly  difficult. 
It  should  be  understood  that  there  is  no  question  of  find- 
ing the  poet's  word.  If  a  suitable  word  be  found, 
whether  or  not  it  occurs  in  the  passage  as  originally 
written,  the  required  result  has  been  attained;  and  as 
the  selections  are  all  from  Scott's  poems,  the  substitu- 
tion of  other  words  need  not  be  considered  unforgivable 
literary  irreverence.  We  may  be  fairly  certain,  at  any 
rate,  that  the  poet  himself  would  have  been  willing  to 
forgive  it.  So,  if  we  take  the  third  selection  as  an 
illustration,  the  metre  will  not  permit  us  to  rest  the 
spear  against  the  "  old  "  oak,  but  we  may  make  the  oak 
"  aged  "  or  "  spreading  "  at  will,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  word  actually  used  by  the  poet  is  ''  knotted.") 

A.     1.  The  night  is  old ;  on  Rhine's  broad  breast, 
Glance stars  which  long  to  rest. 

2.  The  Baron  of  Smaylho'me  rose  with  day, 
He his  courser  on. 

3.  'Tis  noon — against  the oak 

The  hunters  rest  the spear. 

4.  Hour  after  hour  he  loved  to  pore 

On  Shakespeare's  rich  and lore. 

5.  The  short  dark  waves,  heaved  to  the  land, 
With plash  kiss'd  cliff  or  sand. 

6.  In  Saxon  strength  the  Abbey  frown'd 
■With arches,  broad  and  round. 


86     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

7.  His  bright  and  brief  career  is  o'er. 
And his  tuneful  strains. 

8.  Awhile  with hardihood 

Their  English  hearts  the  strife  made  good. 

9.  Dark  at  the  base,  unblest  by  beam, 

the  black  rocks,  and  roar'd  the  stream. 

10.  In  youth  he  sought  not  pleasures  found 

By  youth  in  horse,  and ,  and  hound. 

But  loved  the  quiet  joys  that  wake 
By  lonely  stream  and lake. 

B.     1.  Time  will the  sharpest  sword. 

Time  will  consume  the  strongest  cord; 

That  which hemp  and  steel. 

Mortal  arm  and  nerve  must  feel. 

2.  The moss  and  lichen  twined 

With  fern  and  deer-hair  checked  and  lined, 
A  cushion  fit  for  age ; 

And  o'er  him the  aspen-tree, 

A  restless,  rustling  canopy. 

3.  Old  Stirling's  towers  arose  in  light. 
And,  twined  in  links  of  silver  bright. 

Her river  lay. 

4.  The  cliffs  that their  haughty  head 

o'er  the  river's  darksome  bed 

Were  now  all  naked, and  grey, 

Now  waving  all  with  greenwood  spray. 

5.  Oft,  too,  the  ivy their  breast. 

And its  garland  round  their  crest. 


chapter  v 
itaeeatio:n" 

I.  Supplying  Conclusions 

Supply  appropriate  conclusions  for  the  following 
fables  adapted  from  Roger  UEstrange's  version  of 
^sops  ''Fables'':— 

1.  As  a  fox  was  rummaging  among  a  great  many  masks, 
he  found,  among  the  rest,  one  that  was  very  finely  cut.  He 
took  it  up,  and  when  he  had  considered  it  a  while,  "  Well/' 
said  he,  "  what  a  pity  'tis 

2.  There  was  a  wolf  which  had  seized  upon  a  sheep,  and 
was  making  off  with  it  to  his  den.  On  his  way  he  had  the 
ill-fortune  to  meet  with  a  lion,  who,  without  more  ado, 
made  his  booty  of  the  carcass.  "  Why,  how  now !  "  cried 
the  wolf  in  a  rage,  "have  ye  no  conscience,  that  ye  rob 
honest  folk  on  the  King's  highway?"  The  lion  fell 
a-laughing.     "  Sirrah,"  said  he 

3.  As  a  boar  was  whetting  his  teeth  against  a  tree,  up 
came  a  fox  to  him.  "  Pray,  what  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  " 
said  he.  "  I  see  no  occasion  for  it."  "  Well,  but  I  do," 
said  the  boar.  "  It  is  true  that  there  is  no  enemy  at  hand, 
but    


87 


88     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

4.  A  poor  innocent  stork  had  the  ill-fortune  to  be  taken 
in  a  net  that  was  laid  for  geese  and  cranes.  The  stork's 
plea  for  herself  was  simplicity  and  piety ;  the  love  she  bore 
to  mankind,  and  the  service  she  did  in  picking  up  venom- 
ous creatures.  "This  is  all  true,"  said  the  husbandman, 
"but    

5.  A  man,  one  bitter  winter's  night,  found  refuge  in  the 
hut  of  a  satyr.  No  sooner  was  he  within  the  door  than  he 
began  blowing  upon  his  fingers.  "  Pray,  why  do  you  blow 
upon  your  fingers  ?  "  asked  the  satyr.  "  To  warm  them," 
answered  the  man.  Soon  the  stayr  set  a  bowl  of  steaming 
porridge  before  his  guest,  who,  as  he  lifted  the  first  spoon- 
ful to  his  mouth,  blew  upon  it.  "  And  why  do  you  blow 
upon  your  food?"  queried  the  satyr.  "To  cool  it,"  re- 
sponded the  man.     "  Out  with  you,"  said  the  satyr, 


2.  Amplifying  Brief  Narratives 

A.    Amplify  the  following  narratives,  supplying  ap- 
propriate details: — 

Example. — A  donkey,  one  bitter  winter,  wished  for  the 
spring.  When  the  spring  came  he  found  that  he 
was  worked  harder  than  in  the  winter,  and  so 
longed  for  summer.  But  the  summer  brought  him 
so  much  drudgery  in  the  fields  that  he  began  to 
think  autumn  the  best  season.  In  the  autumn, 
however,  the  harvest  work  was  so  heavy  that  he 
found  himself  longing  for  winter  again. 

Amplified. — A  donkey,  one  cold  day,  fell  to  reflecting 
on  the  trials  of  life  in  winter.     The  wind  made 


NAEEATION  89 

him  shiver  in  his  stall,  he  hated  snow,  and  drag- 
ging a  heavy  sled  over  rough  roads  was  the  hardest 
work  he  had  ever  known.  However,  spring  was 
well  on  the  way,  and  he  consoled  himself  with 
thoughts  of  warmer  days,  roadsides  pleasant  with 
grass,  and  perhaps  a  rainy  week  or  two  of  leisure. 
But  when  the  spring  came  his  days  were  so  full  of 
labor  that  his  mind  turned  for  relief  to  the  thought 
of  drowsy  summer,  when  one  might  loiter  now  and 
then,  and  flap  one's  ears  in  peace  and  contentment. 
But  alas!  the  farm  and  garden  bore  fruit  abund- 
antly and  there  was  only  one  donkey  to  carry  it  to 
market.  As  he  jogged  home  late  at  night,  weary 
and  footsore,  he  thought  with  longing  of  the  beau- 
tiful days  of  the  Indian  summer,  forgetting  the 
endless  tasks  of  the  harvesting  season.  And  before 
the  harvest  was  over,  he  found  himself  wishing  for 
the  winter  which  he  had  once  deemed  so  full  of 
hardship. 

A.  1.  A  young  wolf  was  boasting  of  his  father,  saying 
that  he  had  slain  more  than  two  hundred  foes  before  being 
overpowered.  "But  the  two  hundred  were  sheep,"  re- 
marked a  fox,  "and  his  conqueror  was  the  only  bull  he 
ever  attacked.'^ 

2.  A  wagoner  whose  cart  had  stuck  in  the  mire  prayed 
to  Hercules  for  help.  Hercules  appeared  and  advised  the 
supplicant  to  strive  to  help  himself. 

3.  A  goose  whose  feathers  were  unusually  white  grew 
so  proud  that  she  believed  herself  to  be  a  swan.  She 
shunned  her  fellow-geese  and  tried  in  every  way  possible  to 
imitate  the  swans.  But  she  did  not  succeed  in  being  any- 
thing but  a  very  ridiculous  goose. 


90     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

B.  1.  The  sheep  complained  to  Jupiter  of  his  defense- 
lessness.  Jupiter  offered  to  equip  him  wjth  the  weapons  of 
the  tiger,  the  snake,  or  the  goat,  but  the  sheep  was  unwill- 
ing to  accept  any  of  the  gifts,  preferring  to  remain  defense- 
less rather  than  to  acquire  the  power  of  harming  others. 

2.  The  animals  were  anxious  to  determine  precedence 
among  themselves.  The  horse  suggested  man  as  the 
judge.  But  several  of  the  most  insignificant  animals 
doubted  whether  man  had  sense  enough  to  appreciate  their 
hidden  merits.  Thereupon  the  horse  remarked  that  those 
who  distrusted  their  own  cause  were  usually  most  sus- 
picious of  the  judge. 

3.  The  Frogs  petitioned  Jupiter  for  a  king,  and  re- 
ceived a  log,  in  response  to  their  request.  Growing  tired 
of  so  tame  a  ruler,  they  asked  for  a  different  king.  This 
time  Jupiter  sent  them  a  stork,  who  preyed  upon  them. 
When  they  again  implored  Jupiter  for  another  king,  he 
bade  them  endure  the  evils  they  complained  of,  since  they 
had  not  known  how  to  be  content  with  what  was  fitting  for 
them. 


3.  Stating  the  Point 

State  in  a  brief  phrase  or  sentence  the  point  of  each 
of  the  following  anecdotes  and  fables: — 

(For  example,  the  point  of  our  national  cherry-tree 
anecdote  is  the  truthfulness  of  Washington ;  of  the  fable 
of  the  fox  and  the  crow,  "  Pay  no  heed  to  flatterers.") 

1.  Louis  XIV,  receiving  in  his  sixty-fifth  year  the  aged 
Marshal  Tallard,  after  the  grievous  defeat  of  Blenheim, 
uttered  no  word  of  reproach,  but  merely  remarked,  "At 
our  age,  one  has  no  more  right  to  hope  for  happiness." 


NARRATION  91 

2.  Johnson  was  not  an  admirer  of  Sterne,  and  was 
unwilling  to  grant  him  the  possession  of  any  pathetic 
power.  A  young  lady  asserted  in  Johnson's  presence  that 
she  found  great  pathos  in  Sterne's  writings.  "  That  is/' 
retorted  the  old  philosopher,  "because,  dearest,  you  are  a 
dunce." 

3.  Miss  Repplier,  in  one  of  her  essays,  tells  us  Andrew 
Lang's  little  story  of  a  verger  in  a  Saxon  town  who  was 
wont  to  show  visitors  a  silver  mouse,  which  had  been 
offered  by  the  women  to  the  church  in  order  that  the  town 
might  be  rid  of  mice.  A  Prussian  officer  asked  jeeringly, 
"  Are  you  such  fools  as  to  believe  that  the  creatures  went 
away  because  a  silver  mouse  was  dedicated  ?  "  "  Ah  no," 
replied  the  verger,  "or  we  should  long  ago  have  offered  a 
silver  Prussian." 

4.  A  daring  boy  had  mounted  a  fiery  steed,  and  was 
riding  proudly  up  and  down.  "  For  shame !  "  a  wild  bull 
called  out  to  the  horse,  "  I  would  never  allow  myself  to  be 
mastered  by  a  boy."  "I  see  the  matter  in  a  different 
light,"  responded  the  horse.  "  What  honor  could  I  win  by 
throwing  a  boy  ?  " 

— Lessing:  Fables. 

5.  Tell  me  something  about  the  foreign  countries 
you  have  seen,"  said  the  fox  to  the  much-traveled  stork. 
Immediately  the  stork  began  to  enumerate  the  ponds  and 
swamps  where  he  had  found  the  most  delicious  worms  and 
the  fattest  frogs. 

"  You  have  been  in  Paris,  my  worthy  sir.  Pray  where 
are  the  best  dinners  to  be  had?  What  French  wines 
pleased  your  palate  most  ?  " 

— Lessing:  Fables, 

6.  At  an  important  social  occasion,  Lord  John  Russell 
behaved  in  what  seemed  to  the  on-lookers  a  very  extraor- 
dinary fashion.     Suddenly  rising  from  his  chair  next  to 


92     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  he  hurriedly  betook  himself  to 
a  distant  corner  of  the  room  and  seated  himself  beside  the 
Duchess  of  St.  Albans.  Upon  being  questioned  as  to  the 
reason  for  the  change,  he  explained  that  he  had  been  unable 
to  endure  the  heat  of  a  great  fire  near  his  first  position. 
"  But,"  said  his  interlocutor,  "  I  hope  that  you  explained 
to  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland  why  you  left  her  so  sud- 
denly?" "Well,  not  exactly,"  replied  Lord  John  Russell, 
"but  I  told  the  Duchess  of  St.  Albans  why  I  came  to  sit 
by  her." 

7.  A  certain  man  of  Bagdad,  says  a  Persian  legend 
quoted  by  Edward  FitzGerald  in  his  "  Polonius,"  dreamed 
one  night  that  in  a  certain  house  in  a  certain  street  in 
Cairo  he  should  find  a  treasure.  To  Egypt  he  accordingly 
set  forth,  and  met  in  the  desert  with  one  who  was  on  his 
road  from  Cairo  to  Bagdad,  having  dreamt  that  in  a  cer- 
tain house  in  a  certain  street  there  he  should  find  a  treas- 
ure; and  so  each  of  these  men  had  been  directed  to  each 
other's  house  to  find  a  treasure  that  only  needed  looking 
for  in  his  own. 

8.  An  old  ruinous  tower  which  had  harbored  innu- 
merable jackdaws,  sparrows,  and  bats,  was  at  length  re- 
paired. When  the  masons  left  it,  the  jackdaws,  sparrows, 
and  bats  came  back  in  search  of  their  old  dwellings.  But 
these  were  all  filled  up.  "  Of  what  use  now  is  this  great 
building  ?  "  said  they.  "  Come,  let  us  forsake  this  useless 
stone-heap." 

— ^Lessing:  Fables. 


4.  Writing  Abridgments 

A  good  abstract  (or  abridgment)  should,  as  the  Eng- 
lish Civil  Service  Commission  puts  it,  contain  all  that  is 
important  in  the  narrative  or  correspondence,  and  noth- 


NAEEATION  93 

ing  that  is  unimportant,  should  present  this  material  in 
consecutive  and  readable  form,  and  be  as  brief  as  is 
compatible  with  completeness  and  distinctness. 

Example. — Siioet  Naerative  : — 

On  reaching  London,  I  went  to  my  friend  Clayton 
Freeling,  who  was  then  secretary  of  the  Stamp  Office, 
and  was  then  taken  by  him  to  the  scene  of  my  future 
labours  in  St.  Martin's-le-Grand.  Sir  Francis  Freeling 
was  the  secretary,  but  he  was  greatly  too  high  an  official 
to  be  seen  at  first  by  a  new  junior  clerk.  I  was  taken, 
therefore,  to  his  eldest  son  Henry  Freeling,  who  was  the 
assistant  secretary,  and  by  him  I  was  examined  as  to 
my  fitness.  I  was  asked  to  copy  some  lines  from  the 
Times  newspaper  with  an  old  quill  pen,  and  at  once 
made  a  series  of  blots  and  false  spellings.  "  That  won't 
do,  you  know,"  said  Henry  Freeling  to  his  brother 
Clayton.  Clayton,  who  was  my  friend,  urged  that  I 
was  nervous,  and  asked  that  I  might  be  allowed  to  do  a 
bit  of  writing  at  home  and  bring  it  as  a  sample  on  the 
next  day.  I  was  then  asked  whether  I  was  proficient  in 
arithmetic.  What  could  I  say?  I  had  never  learned 
the  multiplication  table,  and  had  no  more  idea  of  the 
rule  of  three  than  of  conic  sections. 

"  I  know  a  little  of  it,"  I  said  humbly,  whereupon  I 
was  sternly  assured  that  on  the  morrow,  should  I  suc- 
ceed in  showing  that  my  handwriting  was  all  that  it 
ought  to  be,  I  should  be  admitted  into  the  Secretary's 
office  of  the  General  Post  Office.  If  that  little  should 
not  be  found  to  comprise  a  thorough  knowledge  of  all 
the  ordinary  rules,  together  with  practices  and  quick 
skill,  my  career  in  life  could  not  be  made  at  the  Post 


94    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

Office.  Going  down  the  main  stairs  of  the  building — 
stairs  which  have  I  believe  been  now  pulled  down  to 
make  room  for  sorters  and  stampers — Clayton  Ereeling 
told  me  not  to  be  down-hearted.  I  was  myself  inclined 
to  think  that  I  had  better  go  back  to  the  school  in  Brus- 
sels. But,  nevertheless,  I  went  to  work  and  under  the 
surveillance  of  my  elder  brother  made  a  beautiful  tran- 
script of  four  or  ^ve  pages  of  Gibbon.  With  a  faltering 
heart  I  took  these  on  the  next  day  to  the  office.  With 
my  caligraphy  I  was  contented,  but  was  certain  that  I 
should  come  to  the  ground  among  the  figures.  But 
when  I  got  to  "  The  Grand,"  as  we  used  to  call  our 
office  in  those  days,  from  its  site  in  St.  Martin's-le- 
Grand,  I  was  seated  at  a  desk  without  any  further  ref- 
erence to  my  competency.  No  one  condescended  even  to 
look  at  my  beautiful  penmanship. 

— Anthony  Trollope;  Autobiography, 

Abridgment: — 

The  method  of  my  admission  to  the  Stamp  Office  was 
as  follows :  My  friend  Clayton  Freeling  took  me  to  his 
brother  Henry,  the  Assistant  Secretary.  I  was  asked 
to  copy  a  passage  from  The  Times,  and  did  it  very 
badly.  Upon  Clayton's  urging  the  plea  of  nervousness 
in  my  behalf,  I  was  given  permission  to  do  the  neces- 
sary writing  at  home,  but  was  told  that  should  my  pen- 
manship prove  satisfactory,  I  should  then  be  examined 
as  to  my  arithmetic.  Knowing  my  disgracefully  inad- 
equate knowledge  of  even  the  multiplication  table,  I 
was  discouraged.  N'evertheless,  I  did  my  best  with  the 
writing,  and  produced  a  fair  copy  of  some  pages  of 
Gibbon.     But  when  I  took  my  work  to  the  office  the  next 


NAEEATIOlSr  95 

day  my  penmanship  was  completely  ignored  and  I  was 
assigned  to  a  place  without  further  questioning. 

Write  abridgments  of  the  following: — 

A.  1.  The  strayed  revelers  who  gaze  to-day  from  the  ter- 
raced gardens  of  the  "  Star  and  Garter  "  may  notice  one 
feature  in  the  landscape  which  neither  Henry  VIII  nor 
Queen  Caroline  nor  the  poet  Thomson,  nor  any  of  the  his- 
torical inhabitants  of  loyal  Eichmond,  ever  beheld.  Pierc- 
ing the  westward  sky  there  rises  a  towering  column,  which 
guards  and  overlooks,  as  Burke  would  say,  the  subjected 
plains  of  Petersham  and  Twickenham.  It  is  in  reality  the 
chimney  of  some  gigantic  waterworks,  but  it  would  never 
do  to  admit  that  so  idyllic  a  landscape  was  profaned  by 
so  base  and  utilitarian  an  invader.  In  order  to  save  the 
situation  against  tactless  inquiries,  Lord  Russell,  who  lived 
for  forty  years  close  to  the  "  Star  and  Garter "  gate  of 
Richmond  Park,  invented  a  pleasing  myth.  "  What  is  that 
column  ? "  was  the  invariable  question  of  the  intelligent 
visitor.  "  Oh,  don't  you  know,  that  is  the  Middlesex  Mar- 
tyrs Memorial."  It  is  an  interesting  trait  of  human  na- 
ture that  no  one  ever  was  found  to  ask  who  the  M.  M.'s 
were,  or  what  was  the  cause  for  which  they  suffered. 

— G.  W.  E.  Russell  :  A  Pocketful  of  Sixpences. 

2.  Theuth  was  one  of  the  ancient  gods  of  Egypt,  who 
was  the  first  to  invent  arithmetic  and  geometry  and 
draughts  and  dice,  but  especially  letters.  Now  Thamus 
was  at  this  time  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  dwelt  in  the  great 
city  of  Thebes.  To  him  Theuth  went  and  showed  him  all 
the  arts  which  he  had  devised,  and  asked  him  to  make  them 
known  to  the  rest  of  the  Egyptians.  Thamus  asked  him 
what  was  the  use  of  each.  But  when  they  came  to  the  let- 
ters, "This  knowledge,  0  King,"  said  the  deity,  "will 
make  thy  people  wiser,  for  I  have  invented  it  both  as  a 


96    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

medicine  for  memory  and  for  wisdom/'  But  the  king  an- 
swered, "  Most  ingenious  Theuth,  it  is  for  you  to  find  out 
cunning  inventions ;  it  is  for  others  to  judge  of  their  worth 
and  their  nobleness.  But  methinks  you,  out  of  fondness 
for  your  own  discovery,  have  attributed  to  it  precisely  the 
opposite  effect  to  that  which  it  will  have.  For  this  inven- 
tion will  produce  forgetfulness  on  the  part  of  those  who 
use  it,  since  by  trusting  to  writing,  they  will  remember  out- 
wardly by  means  of  foreign  marks,  and  not  inwardly  by 
means  of  their  own  faculties.  You  are  providing  for  my 
people  the  appearance  rather  than  the  reality  of  wisdom. 
For  they  will  think  they  have  got  hold  of  something  val- 
uable when  they  only  possess  themselves  of  written  words, 
and  they  will  deem  themselves  wise  without  being  so.'' 

— Plato  :  Phcedrus, 
3.  The  excellent  story  of  the  Boston  schoolboys  who 
waited  upon  the  English  general  is  well  known  to  most 
children  in  the  Northern  States.  .  .  .  The  Latin  School 
then  stood  where  Parker's  Hotel  is  now,  on  the  south  side 
of  that  School  Street  to  which  the  school  gave  its  name. 
The  spot  is  directly  opposite  where  Franklin's  statue  now 
stands.  This  is  just  where  it  should  be,  for  Franklin  was 
a  schoolboy  in  the  same  school,  when  the  schoolhouse  occu- 
pied the  site  where  the  statue  now  is.  The  boys,  be- 
fore and  after  school,  were  in  the  habit  of  coasting  from 
the  hill,  then  higher  than  it  is  now,  which  rises  above  the 
Congregational  House,  behind  the  great  pile  of  the  new 
Tremont  Buildings.  They  coasted  down  what  we  call  Bea- 
con Street  across  Tremont  Street  and  kept  on  down  School 
Street  to  Washington  Street.  General  Haldimand,  a  brig- 
adier in  the  English  army,  occupied  the  house  which  stood 
on  School  Street  next  below  where  the  Parker  House  now 
is.  Haldimand's  servant  did  not  like  this  coasting  business 
And  he  scattered  ashes  on  the  coast  so  as  to  make  it  easier 


NARRATION  97 

for  his  master  and  the  officers  to  come  in  and  out  at  the 
Beacon  Street  door.  Finding  that  their  remonstrances 
failed,  the  Latin  School  boys  appointed  a  committee  of 
their  first  class  to  wait  upon  Haldimand.  Haldimand  re- 
ceived them  courteously,  and  the  boys  told  him  that  coast- 
ing was  one  of  their  inalienable  rights.  Haldimand  did 
not  wish  to  make  more  trouble  in  a  town  which  was  as 
ripe  for  rebellion  as  Boston,  so  he  sent  for  the  servant  and 
gave  him  a  good  scolding,  and  bade  him  take  care  every 
cold  night  to  repair  the  coast  by  pouring  water  upon  it, 
which  should  freeze  so  that  it  should  be  kept  in  good  con- 
dition for  the  boys. 

— E.  E.  Hale  :  Historic  Boston. 

B.  1.  All  who  are  acquainted  with  the  early  history  of 
the  Italian  stage  are  aware  that  Arlechino  is  not,  in  his 
original  conception,  a  mere  worker  of  marvels  with  his 
wooden  sword,  a  jumper  in  and  out  of  windows,  as  upon 
our  theatre,  but,  as  his  parti-colored  jacket  implies,  a 
buffoon  or  clown,  whose  mouth,  far  from  being  eternally 
closed,  as  amongst  us,  is  filled,  like  that  of  Touchstone, 
with  quips,  and  cranks,  and  witty  devices,  very  often  de- 
livered extempore.  It  is  not  easy  to  trace  how  he  became 
possessed  of  his  black  vizard,  which  was  anciently  made  in 
the  resemblance  of  the  face  of  a  cat;  but  it  seems  that  the 
mask  was  essential  to  the  performance  of  the  character, 
as  will  appear  from  the  following  theatrical  anecdote : — 

An  actor  on  the  Italian  stage  permitted  at  the  Foire 
du  St.  Germain,  in  Paris,  was  renowned  for  the  wild,  ven- 
turous, and  extravagant  wit,  the  brilliant  sallies,  and  for- 
tunate repartees,  with  which  he  prodigally  seasoned  the 
character  of  the  parti-colored  jester.  Some  critics,  whose 
good-will  towards  a  favorite  performer  was  stronger  than 
their  judgment,  took  occasion  to  remonstrate  with  the  sue- 


98     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

cessful  actor  on  the  subject  of  the  grotesque  vizard.  They 
went  wilily  to  their  purpose,  observing  that  his  classical 
and  attic  wit,  his  delicate  vein  of  humor,  his  happy  turn 
for  dialogue  were  rendered  burlesque  and  ludicrous  by 
this  unmeaning  and  bizarre  disguise,  and  that  those  attri- 
butes would  become  far  more  impressive,  if  aided  by  the 
spirit  of  his  eye  and  the  expression  of  his  natural  features. 
The  actor's  vanity  was  easily  so  far  engaged  as  to  induce 
him  to  make  the  experiment.  He  played  Harlequin  bare- 
faced, but  was  considered  on  all  hands  as  having  made  a 
total  failure.  He  had  lost  the  audacity  which  a  sense  of 
incognito  bestowed,  and  with  it  all  the  reckless  play  of 
raillery  which  gave  vivacity  to  his  original  acting.  He 
cursed  his  advisers,  and  resumed  his  grotesque  vizard ;  but, 
it  is  said,  without  ever  being  able  to  regain  the  care- 
less and  successful  levity  which  the  consciousness  of  the 
disguise  had  formerly  bestowed. 
— Scott  :  Introduction  to  Chronicles  of  the  Canongate, 

2.  Hrothgar,  a  Danish  king,  builds  for  himself  a  splen- 
did mead-hall,  Heorot,  wherein  he  sits  feasting  with  his 
thegns.  A  fiendish  monster,  Grendel,  lurking  in  the  dark 
marshes  without,  is  tortured  by  the  sounds  of  minstrelsy 
that  reach  him  from  the  hall.  In  jealous  hate  he  enters 
Heorot  by  night  and  slays  thirty  sleeping  companions  of 
the  king.  Again  and  again  he  comes  to  destroy,  until  the 
splendid  hall  has  to  be  forsaken.  After  twelve  years  Beo- 
wulf, a  prince  of  the  Geats,  or  Goths,  endowed  with  the 
strength  of  thirty  men,  comes  with  his  followers  in  a  ship 
to  rid  Hrothgar  of  this  scourge.  He  is  made  welcome, 
and  that  night  he  and  his  band  occupy  the  hall.  All  are 
asleep  save  Beowulf,  when  Grendel  strides  into  the  hall, 
his  eyes  glowing  like  flames.  He  snatches  a  warrior,  rends 
him  to  pieces,  and  greedily  devours  him.     Then  he  attacks 


NARRATION  99 

Beowulf  and  they  close  in  deadly  grapple,  the  hero  using 
no  weapon,  but  trusting  solely  in  his  mighty  strength. 
The  stanch  hall  trembles  with  the  fierceness  of  the  con- 
test; the  massive  benches  are  splintered,  the  Danes  stand 
around,  panic-stricken.  Then  Grendel  howling,  strives  to 
escape,  but  Beowulf  crushes  him  with  his  terrible  hand 
grip.  At  length  the  demon,  with  the  loss  of  an  arm, 
wrenches  himself  free,  and  flies  to  the  fens  to  die.  On 
the  morrow  all  crowd  round  Beowulf  rejoicing,  but  the 
next  night  GrendeFs  mother  comes  to  avenge  her  son,  and 
carries  off  one  of  the  thegns.  Beowulf  resolves  to  con- 
quer this  new  foe.  With  his  thegns  he  tracks  the  woman 
fiend  over  murky  moors,  through  rocky  gorges,  and  by  the 
haunts  of  the  water  nixies,  until  he  comes  upon  a  stagnant 
pool,  frothing  with  blood  and  overhung  by  gloomy  trees. 
By  night  the  waters  are  livid  with  flame.  The  deer,  pur- 
sued by  dogs,  will  die  on  the  bank  rather  than  tempt  those 
unsounded  depths.  It  is  a  place  of  terror.  Beowulf 
plunges  in  and  fights  the  water  fiend  in  her  cave  under  the 
flood.  His  sword  proves  useless  against  her.  Again  he 
trusts  to  sheer  strength.  "  So  it  behooves  a  man  to  act 
when  he  thinks  to  attain  enduring  praise; — he  will  not  be 
caring  for  his  life."  Beowulf  falls,  and  the  fiend  is  upon 
him,  her  knife  drawn.  Then  the  hero  snatches  from  a  pile 
of  arms  a  mighty  sword,  giant-forged,  and  slays  his  ad- 
versary.    Again  there  is  mirth  and  praise  at  Heorot. 

— Pancoast  :  Introduction  to  English  Literature. 


*  5.  Prose  Versions  of  Poetical  Narratives 

A.  Give  in  prose  the  substance  of  the  following 
poem,  retaining  as  much  as  possible  the  tone  and  feel- 
ing of  the  original: — 


100     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 
A  Fancy  from  Fontenelle. 

The  rose  in  the  garden  slipped  her  bud, 
And  she  laughed  in  the  pride  of  her  youthful  blood, 
As  she  thought  of  the  Gardener  standing  by — 
"  He  is  old — so  old !     And  he  soon  must  die !  " 

The  full  rose  waxed  in  the  warm  June  air, 
And  she  spread  and  spread  till  her  heart  lay  bare, 
And  she  laughed  once  more  as  she  heard  his  tread — 
"  He  is  older  now !     He  will  soon  be  dead !  " 

But  the  breeze  of  the  morning  blew,  and  found 
That  the  leaves  of  the  blown  Rose  strewed  the  ground ; 
And  he  came  at  noon,  that  Gardener  old. 
And  he  raked  them  gently  under  the  mould. 

And  I  wove  the  thing  to  a  random  rhyme; 
For  the  Rose  is  Beauty;  the  Gardener,  Time. 

— Austin  Dobson. 


B.  The  following  poem  hy  an  eminent  jurist  is  a 
version  in  hallad  form  of  a  series  of  incidents  which 
gave  rise  to  several  lawsuits.  State  all  the  facts  in 
prose,  disregarding  the  hallad  refrain. 

Marmot  v.  Hampton. 

When  Hampton  sold  goods  to  Harriot, 
Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 

Then  Harriot  paid,  and  receipt  he  got; 

Alas !  it  were  better  he  paid  it  not. 

Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 


For  the  false  knave  Hampton  sued  lilni  amain ; 

Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 
The  receipt  whereby  his  discharge  was  plain 
Did  Harriot  seek,  and  he  sought  in  vain: 

Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 

And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

He  must  needs  pay  twice  and  for  costs  was  bound; 

Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 
But  there  came  a  day  the  receipt  was  found, 
He  never  had  liever  no  thing  on  ground. 

Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 

And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

"  Go  to,  now,  this  knave  in  my  turn  I'll  sue, 
(Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway!) 
And  his  pride  and  his  evil  gains  undo ; " 
But  what  should  befall  full  little  he  knew. 
Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

"  Sir  plaintiff,"  quoth  Kenyon,  "  your  wit  is  but  raw, 

{Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway!) 
For  to  wage  this  emprise  which  never  man  saw. 
To  get  back  money  paid  under  process  of  law.*' 
Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

His  name  hath  the  crier  thrice  called  upon, 
Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 

And  he  standeth  nonsuit  with  his  cause  undone, 

But  if  a  new  trial  may  yet  be  won. 

Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 


m    OONSTRIJCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

And  Gibbs  doth  eagerly  move  the  court, 

Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 
For  such  actions  are  worthy  by  good  report, 
And  the  doubt  is  full  weighty  for  cutting  short; 
Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

And  0  but  the  judges  were  wrathful  men ! 
Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 
"  If  we  granted  a  rule,  it  were  danger  then 
No  action  should  henceforth  have  end  again  " : 
Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

And  another  spake:  "  Shall  we  give  pretence 
Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 

To  fling  doors  open  for  negligence 

Of  parties  unready  with  evidence  ?  " 

Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

And  a  third :  "  Thus  dooms  which  be  dight  and  clear 

{Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway!) 
Were  upset  for  new  matters  brought  up  in  arrear, 
A  thing  most  monstrous  for  ears  to  hear." 
Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 

So  Harriot  must  pay  for  the  commonwealth's  sake. 

Woe's  me  for  goods  sold,  and  wellaway! 
And  if  like  ensample  ye  will  not  make, 
Keep  shrewdly,  good  folk,  all  receipts  that  ye  take. 
Sing  sorrow  for  money  had  and  received. 
And  alack  for  the  common  counts,  0. 
— Sir  Frederick  Pollock  :  Leading  Cases  Done 
Into  English. 
*  By  permission  of  the  author,  and  of  Messrs.  Macmillan  and  Co. 


NAERATION  103 

6.  Telling  Stories  from  Different  Points  of  View 

A.  Give  the  substance  of  the  following  story,  as  the 
Prince  might  have  told  it: — 

When  Prince  Alexander  of  Battenberg,  one  of  the  young- 
est of  Queen  Victoria's  many  grandsons^  was  at  Eton,  he 
found,  as  often  happens  with  boys,  whether  royal  or  not, 
that  he  had  spent  his  allowance  of  pocket  money  long  be- 
fore the  next  instalment  was  due.  He  thereupon  wrote  to 
his  illustrious  grandmother,  asking  her  to  relieve  his  finan- 
cial straits.  The  expected  remittance  did  not  come,  but 
the  prince  received  instead  a  letter  from  the  queen  in  which 
she  very  sensibly  reminded  her  extravagant  little  grandson 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  little  boys  to  keep  within  their 
allowance.  The  answer  to  this  grandmotherly  piece  of 
advice  was  as  follows:  "My  dear  Grandmama:  I  am  sure 
you  will  be  glad  to  know  that  I  need  not  trouble  you  for 
any  money  just  now,  for  I  sold  your  last  letter  to  another 
boy  for  thirty  shillings.'' 

B.  Tell  the  story  of  the  Boston  schoolboys  (Page 
96 j  from  the  'point  of  view  of  General  Haldimand's 
servant, 

C.  Tell  the  following  story  from  the  point  of  view 
of  one  of  the  strangers: — 

When  the  Authors'  Club  was  in  its  comparative  infancy, 
a  select  little  party  of  its  members  found  themselves  in  its 
rooms  in  West  Twenty-third  Street  one  night,  sitting  about 
a  fire  that  would  not  burn.  A  heavy  snow  was  falling  and  the 
weather  was  bitterly  cold.  A  motion  to  adjourn  to  a  neigh- 
boring hotel  was  carried  unanimously,  and  thither  we  went 
in  pursuit  of  light  and  warmth.     The  great  bar-room  was 


104     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

crowded,  and  it  was  with  no  little  difficulty  that  we  found 
a  place  to  seat  ourselves.  At  last  two  gentlemen  at  a  table 
in  a  far  corner  courteously  made  room  for  us.  We  gath- 
ered from  their  conversation  that  they  were  strangers  in 
New  York,  and  that  they  had  been  to  hear  John  Fiske 
lecture  on  the  "  Nebular  Hypothesis,"  that  evening  at  the 
Cooper  Institute.  Their  discourse  was  so  intelligent  that 
Mr.  Stedman  hazarded  a  few  remarks,  saying  that  we  were 
all  friends  of  the  lecturer,  and  the  talk  became  general. 
They  seemed  to  be  pleased  with  us,  and  we  were  interested 
in  them,  and  as  we  rose  to  leave  the  room,  Mr.  Stedman 
ventured  to  tell  them  who  we  were.  "This  is  Mr.  Co- 
nant,"  he  said,  "of  Harper's  WeeTcly.  This,  Mr.  Julian 
Hawthorne.  This,  Mr.  George  Parsons  Lathrop.  This, 
Mr.  Richard  Grant  White,  the  Shakespearian  author. 
This,  Mr.  George  Cary  Eggleston,  of  The  World.  This, 
Professor  Boyesen,  of  Cornell.  This,  Mr.  Bunner,  of 
Puch.  This,  Mr.  Laurence  Hutton,  the  historian  of  the 
stage,  and  I  am  Mr.  E.  C.  Stedman."  The  strangers  looked 
at  us  for  a  moment  in  solemn  silence,  when  the  elder  of 
them  said:  "I  am  Bismarck,  and  my  friend  is  the  Pope 
of  Rome."  And  without  a  word  of  "good-night"  or  a 
glance  behind  them,  they  hurried  out  into  the  storm.  To 
this  day,  no  doubt,  they  are  convinced  they  had  fallen  into 
the  nest  of  a  gang  of  bunco-steerers,  and  they  are  still  con- 
gratulating themselves  on  their  escape. 

— Laurence  Hutton:  Talks  in  a  Library, 

D.  Tell  the  story  of  Don  Quixote's  adventure  with 
the  windmills,  given  in  the  selection  below,  first  from 
Don  Quixote's  point  of  view,  then  from  Sancho  Panza's. 

Engaged  in  this  discourse,  they  came  in  sight  of  thirty 
or  forty  windmills,  which  are  in  that  plain;  and  as  soon  as 


NAERATION  105 

Don  Quixote  espied  them,  he  said  to  his  squire,  "  Fortune 
disposes  our  affairs  better  than  we  ourselves  could  have 
desired;  look  yonder,  friend  Sancho  Panza,  where  thou 
mayest  discover  somewhat  more  than  thirty  monstrous 
giants,  whom  I  intend  to  encounter  and  slay,  and  with  their 
spoils  we  will  begin  to  enrich  ourselves;  for  it  is  lawful 
war,  and  doing  God  good  service,  to  remove  so  wicked  a 
generation  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth."  "What 
giants  ?  "  said  Sancho  Panza.  "  Those  thou  seest  yonder," 
answered  his  master,  "  with  their  long  arms ;  for  some  are 
wont  to  have  them  almost  of  the  length  of  two  leagues." 
"  Look,  sir,"  answered  Sancho,  "  those  which  appear  yon- 
der are  not  giants,  but  windmills,  and  what  seems  to  be 
arms  are  the  sails,  which,  whirled  about  by  the  wind,  make 
the  millstone  go."  "It  is  very  evident,"  answered  Don 
Quixote,  "that  thou  art  not  versed  in  the  business  of  ad- 
ventures. They  are  giants ;  and  if  thou  art  afraid,  get  thee 
aside  and  pray,  whilst  I  engage  with  them  in  fierce  and 
unequal  combat."  So  saying,  he  clapped  spurs  to  his  steed, 
notwithstanding  the  cries  his  squire  sent  after  him,  assur- 
ing him  that  they  were  certainly  windmills,  and  not  giants. 
But  he  was  so  fally  possessed  that  they  were  giants,  that 
he  neither  heard  the  outcries  of  his  squire  Sancho,  nor 
yet  discerned  what  they  were,  though  he  was  very  near 
them,  but  went  on  crying  out  aloud,  "  Fly  not,  ye  cow- 
ards and  vile  caitiffs !  for  it  is  a  single  knight  who  assaults 
you."  The  wind  now  rising  a  little,  the  great  sails  began 
to  move;  upon  which  Don  Quixote  called  out,  "Although 
ye  should  have  more  arms  than  the  giant  Briareus,  ye  shall 
pay  for  it." 

Then  recommending  himself  devoutly  to  his  lady  Dul- 
cinea,  beseeching  her  to  succor  him  in  the  present  danger, 
being  well  covered  with  his  buckler  and  setting  his  lance  in 
the  rest,  he  rushed  on  as  fast  as  Rozinante  could  gallop, 


106     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

and  attacked  the  first  mill  before  him;  when,  running  his 
lance  into  the  sail,  the  wind  whirled  it  about  with  so  much 
violence  that  it  broke  the  lance  to  shivers,  dragging  horse 
and  rider  after  it,  and  tumbling  them  over  and  over  on  the 
plain  in  very  evil  plight.  Sancho  Panza  hastened  to  his 
assistance  as  fast  as  the  ass  could  carry  him ;  and  when  he 
came  up  to  his  master  he  found  him  unable  to  stir,  so  vio- 
lent was  the  blow  which  he  and  Rozinante  had  received  in 
their  fall.  ^'  God  save  me ! "  quoth  Sancho,  "  did  not  I 
warn  you  to  have  a  care  of  what  you  did,  for  that  they 
were  nothing  but  windmills?  And  nobody  could  mistake 
them  but  one  that  had  the  like  in  his  head."  "  Peace, 
friend  Sancho,^'  answered  Don  Quixote;  "for  matters  of 
war  are,  of  all  others,  most  subject  to  continual  change. 
Now  I  verily  believe,  and  it  is  most  certainly  the  fact,  that 
the  sage  Freston,  who  stole  away  my  chamber  and  books, 
has  metamorphosed  these  giants  into  windmills,  on  pur- 
pose to  deprive  me  of  the  glory  of  vanquishing  them,  so 
great  is  the  enmity  he  bears  me!  But  his  wicked  arts 
will  finally  avail  but  little  against  the  goodness  of  my 
sword."  "  God  grant  it !  "  answered  Sancho  Panza ;  then 
helping  him  to  rise,  he  mounted  him  again  upon  his  steed, 
which  was  almost  disjointed. 

*  E.  The  following  selection  from  ''  Henry  Es- 
mond/' in  which  Thackeray  reproduces  so  perfectly  the 
tone  and  diction  of  the  famous  "  Spectator  '*  essays, 
contains  accounts  of  the  same  incident  from  different 
points  of  view.  Give  a  brief  abstract  of  each  paper, 
maintaining  the  distinct  point  of  view  in  each  case. 

"  Spectator. 
''  No.  341.  "  Tuesday,  April  1,  1712. 

Mutate  nomine  de  te  Fahula  narratur. — Horace. 
Thyself  the  moral  of  the  Fable  see.— -Creech. 


NAKKATION  107 

1.  *'  Jocasta  is  known  as  a  woman  of  learning  and  fash- 
ion, and  as  one  of  the  most  amiable  persons  of  this  court 
and  country.  She  is  at  home  two  mornings  of  the  week,  and 
all  the  wits  and  a  few  of  the  beauties  of  London  flock  to 
her  assemblies.  When  she  goes  abroad  to  Tunbridge  or  the 
Bath,  a  retinue  of  adorers  rides  the  journey  with  her;  and 
besides  the  London  beaux,  she  has  a  crowd  of  admirers  at 
the  Wells,  the  polite  amongst  the  natives  of  Sussex  and 
Somerset  pressing  round  her  tea-tables,  and  being  anxious 
for  a  nod  from  her  chair.  Jocasta's  acquaintance  is  thus 
very  numerous.  Indeed,  'tis  one  smart  writer's  work  to 
keep  her  visiting-book — a  strong  footman  is  engaged  to 
carry  it;  and  it  would  require  a  much  stronger  head  even 
than  Jocasta's  own  to  remember  the  names  of  all  her  dear 
friends. 

"  Either  at  Epsom  Wells  or  at  Tunbridge  (for  of  this 
important  matter  Jocasta  cannot  be  certain)  it  was  her 
ladyship's  fortune  to  become  acquainted  with  a  young  gen- 
tleman, whose  conversation  was  so  sprightly,  and  manners 
amiable,  that  she  invited  the  agreeable  young  spark  to 
visit  her  if  ever  he  came  to  London,  where  her  house  in 
Spring  Garden  should  be  open  to  him.  Charming  as  he 
was,  and  without  any  manner  of  doubt  a  pretty  fellow, 
Jocasta  hath  such  a  regiment  of  the  like  continually  march- 
ing round  her  standard,  that  'tis  no  wonder  her  attention 
is  distracted  amongst  them.  And  so,  though  this  gentle- 
man made  a  considerable  impression  upon  her,  and  touched 
her  heart  for  at  least  three  and  twenty  minutes,  it  must 
be  owned  that  she  has  forgotten  his  name.  He  is  a  dark 
man,  and  may  be  eight  and  twenty  years  old.  His  dress 
is  sober,  though  of  rich  materials.  He  has  a  mole  on  his 
forehead  over  his  left  eye;  has  a  blue  ribbon  to  his  cane 
and  sword,  and  wears  his  own  hair. 

'^Jocasta  was  much  flattered  by  beholding  her  admirer 


108     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

(for  that  everybody  admires  who  sees  her  is  a  point  which 
she  never  can  for  a  moment  doubt)  in  the  next  pew  to  her 
at  St.  James's  Church  last  Sunday;  and  the  manner  iij 
which  he  appeared  to  go  to  sleep  during  the  sermon — 
though  from  under  his  fringed  eyelids  it  was  evident  he 
was  casting  glances  of  respectful  rapture  toward  Jocasta 
— deeply  moved  and  interested  her.  On  coming  out  of 
church,  he  found  his  way  to  her  chair,  and  made  her  an 
elegant  bow  as  she  stepped  into  it.  She  saw  him  at  Court 
afterwards,  where  he  carried  himself  with  a  most  distin- 
guished air,  though  none  of  her  acquaintances  knew  his 
name;  and  the  next  night  he  was  at  the  play,  where  her 
ladyship  was  pleased  to  acknowledge  him  from  the  side- 
box. 

"  During  the  whole  of  the  comedy  she  racked  her  brains 
so  to  remember  his  name  that  she  did  not  hear  a  word  of 
the  piece ;  and  having  the  happiness  to  meet  him  once  more 
in  the  lobby  of  the  playhouse,  she  went  up  to  him  in  a 
flutter,  and  bade  him  remember  that  she  kept  two  nights  in 
the  week,  and  that  she  longed  to  see  him  at  Spring  Garden. 

"  He  appeared  on  Tuesday,  in  a  rich  suit,  showing  a  very 
fine  taste  both  in  the  tailor  and  wearer ;  and  though  a  knot 
of  us  were  gathered  round  the  charming  Jocasta,  fellows 
who  pretended  to  know  every  face  upon  the  town,  not  one 
could  tell  the  gentleman's  name  in  reply  to  Jocasta's  eager 
inquiries,  flung  to  the  right  and  left  of  her  as  he  advanced 
up  the  room  with  a  bow  that  would  become  a  duke. 

"Jocasta  acknowledged  this  salute  with  one  of  those 
smiles  and  curtsies  of  which  that  lady  hath  the  secret. 
She  curtsies  with  a  languishing  air,  as  if  to  say,  *  You  are 
come  at  last.  I  have  been  pining  for  you ; '  and  then  she 
finishes  her  victim  with  a  killing  look,  which  declares :  *  0 
Philander  I  I  have  no  eyes  but  for  you.'  Camilla  hath  as 
good  a  curtsy  perhaps,  and  Thalestris  much  such  another 


NAKRATION  109 

look;  but  the  glance  and  the  curtsy  together  belong  to 
Jocasta  of  all  the  English  beauties  alone. 

" '  Welcome  to  London,  sir/  says  she.  ^  One  can  see  you 
are  from  the  country  by  your  looks.^  She  would  have  said 
'  Epsom/  or  *  Tunbridge/  had  she  remembered  rightly  at 
which  place  she  had  met  the  stranger;  but,  alas!  she  had 
forgotten. 

"The  gentleman  said,  'he  had  been  in  town  but  three 
days ;  and  one  of  his  reasons  for  coming  hither  was  to  have 
the  honor  of  paying  his  court  to  Jocasta.' 

"  She  said,  *  the  waters  had  agreed  with  her  but  indif- 
ferently.' 

" '  The  waters  were  for  the  sick/  the  gentleman  said : 
*  the  young  and  beautiful  came  but  to  make  them  sparkle. 
And  as  the  clergyman  read  the  services  on  Sunday/  he 
added,  '  your  ladyship  reminded  me  of  the  angel  that  vis- 
ited the  pool.'  A  murmur  of  approbation  saluted  this 
sally.  Manilio,  who  is  a  wit  when  he  is  not  at  cards,  was 
in  such  a  rage  that  he  revoked  when  he  heard  it. 

"  Jocasta  was  an  angel  visiting  the  waters ;  but  at  which 
of  the  Bethesdas?  She  was  puzzled  more  and  more;  and, 
as  her  way  always  is,  looked  the  more  innocent  and  sim- 
ple, the  more  artful  her  intentions  were. 

"  *  We  were  discoursing/  says  she,  '  about  spelling  of 
names  and  words  when  you  came.  Why  should  we  say 
goold  and  write  gold,  and  call  china  chayney,  and  Caven- 
dish Candish,  and  Cholmondeley  Chumley?  If  we  call 
Pulteney  Poltney,  why  shouldn't  we  call  poultry  pultry — 
and ' 

" '  Such  an  enchantress  as  your  ladyship,'  says  he,  '  is 
mistress  of  all  sorts  of  spells.'  But  this  was  Dr.  Swift's 
pun,  and  we  all  knew  it. 

"  '  And — and  how  do  you  spell  your  name  ?  '  says  she, 
coming  to  the  point  at  length ;  for  this  sprightly  conversa- 


no     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

tion  had  lasted  much  longer  than  is  here  set  down,  and 
been  carried  on  through  at  least  three  dishes  of  tea. 

"  ^  Oh,  madam/  says  he,  *  I  spell  my  name  with  the  y' 
And  laying  down  his  dish,  my  gentleman  made  another 
elegant  bow,  and  was  gone  in  a  moment. 

'^  Jocasta  hath  had  no  sleep  since  this  mortification,  and 
the  stranger's  disappearance.  If  balked  in  anything,  she 
is  sure  to  lose  her  health  and  temper ;  and  we,  her  servants, 
suffer,  as  usual,  during  the  angry  fits  of  our  Queen.  Can 
you  help  us,  Mr.  Spectator,  who  know  everything,  to  read 
this  riddle  for  her,  and  set  at  rest  all  our  minds?  We 
find  in  her  list,  Mr.  Berty,  Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Pike,  Mr. 
Tyler — who  may  be  Mr.  Bertie,  Mr.  Smyth,  Mr.  Pyke, 
Mr.  Tiler,  for  what  we  know.  She  hath  turned  away  the 
clerk  of  her  visiting-book,  a  poor  fellow  with  a  great  family 
of  children.  Read  me  this  riddle,  good  Mr.  Shortface, 
and  oblige  your  admirer — CEdipus.'''' 

2.  "The  Trumpet  Coffee-House,  Whitehall. 

"  Mr.  Spectator, — I  am  a  gentleman  but  little  acquainted 
with  the  town,  though  I  have  had  a  university  education, 
and  passed  some  years  serving  my  country  abroad,  where 
my  name  is  better  known  than  in  the  coffee-house  and  St. 
James's. 

"Two  years  since  my  uncle  died,  leaving  me  a  pretty 
estate  in  the  county  of  Kent ;  and  being  at  Tunbridge  Wells 
last  summer,  after  my  mourning  was  over,  and  on  the  look- 
out, if  truth  must  be  told,  for  some  young  lady  who  would 
share  with  me  the  solitude  of  my  great  Kentish  house,  and 
be  kind  to  my  tenantry  (for  whom  a  woman  can  do  a  great 
deal  more  good  than  the  best-intentioned  man  can),  I  was 
greatly  fascinated  by  a  young  lady  of  London,  who  was 
the  toast  of  all  the  company  at  the  Wells.  Every  one 
knows  Saccharissa's  beauty;  and  I  think,  Mr.  Spectator, 
no  one  better  than  herself. 


NAREATION  111 

"My  table-book  informs  me  that  I  danced  no  less  than 
seven  and  twenty  sets  with  her  at  the  Assembly.  I  treated 
her  to  the  fiddles  twice.  I  was  admitted  on  several  days 
to  her  lodging,  and  received  by  her  with  a  great  deal  of  dis- 
tinction, and,  for  a  time,  was  entirely  her  slave.  It  was 
only  when  I  found,  from  common  talk  of  the  company  at 
the  Wells,  and  from  narrowly  watching  one,  who  I  once 
thought  of  asking  the  most  sacred  question  a  man  can  put 
to  a  woman,  that  I  became  aware  how  unfit  she  was  to  be 
a  country  gentleman's  wife ;  and  that  this  fair  creature  was 
but  a  heartless  worldly  jilt,  playing  with  affections  that 
she  never  meant  to  return,  and,  indeed,  incapable  of  re- 
turning them.  'Tis  admiration  such  women  want,  not  love 
that  touches  them ;  and  I  can  conceive,  in  her  old  age,  no 
more  wretched  creature  than  this  lady  will  be,  when  her 
beauty  hath  deserted  her,  when  her  admirers  have  left  her, 
and  she  hath  neither  friendship  nor  religion  to  console  her. 

"  Business  calling  me  to  London,  I  went  to  St.  James's 
Church  last  Sunday,  and  there  opposite  me  sat  my  beauty  of 
the  Wells.  Her  behavior  during  the  whole  service  was  so 
pert,  languishing  and  absurd ;  she  flirted  her  fan,  and  ogled 
and  eyed  me  in  a  manner  so  indecent,  that  I  was  obliged  to 
shut  my  eyes,  so  as  actually  not  to  see  her,  and  whenever 
I  opened  them  beheld  hers  (and  very  bright  they  are)  still 
staring  at  me.  I  fell  in  with  her  afterwards  at  Court, 
and  at  the  playhouse;  and  here  nothing  would  satisfy  her 
but  she  must  elbow  through  the  crowd  and  speak  to  me,  and 
invite  me  to  the  assembly,  which  she  holds  at  her  house, 
not  very  far  from  Ch-r-ng  Cr-ss. 

"  Having  made  her  a  promise  to  attend,  of  course  I  kept 
my  promise ;  and  found  the  young  widow  in  the  midst  of  a 
half-dozen  of  card  tables,  and  a  crowd  of  wits  and  admirers. 
I  made  the  best  bow  I  could,  and  advanced  towards  her; 
and  saw  by  a  peculiar  puzzled  look  in  her  face,  though 


112    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

she  tried  to  hide  her  perplexity,  that  she  had  forgotten 
even  my  name. 

"  Her  talk,  artful  as  it  was,  convinced  me  that  I  had 
guessed  aright.  She  turned  the  conversation  most  ridicu- 
lously upon  the  spelling  of  names  and  words;  and  I  replied 
with  as  ridiculous  fulsome  compliments  as  I  could  pay 
her;  indeed,  one  in  which  I  compared  her  to  an  angel  vis- 
iting the  sick  wells,  went  a  little  too  far ;  nor  should  I  have 
employed  it,  but  that  the  allusion  came  from  the  Second 
Lesson  last  Sunday,  which  we  both  had  heard,  and  I  was 
pressed  to  answer  her. 

"  Then  she  came  to  the  question,  which  I  knew  was 
awaiting  me,  and  asked  how  I  spelt  my  name  ?  '  Madam,' 
says  I,  turning  on  my  heel,  '  I  spell  it  with  a  y.^  And  so 
I  left  her,  wondering  at  the  light-heartedness  of  the  town- 
people,  who  forget  and  make  friends  so  easily,  and  re- 
solved to  look  elsewhere  for  a  partner  for  your  constant 
reader, 

Cymon  Wyldoats." 

"You  know  my  real  name,  Mr.  Spectator,  in  which 
there  is  no  such  letter  as  hupsilon.  But  if  the  lady,  whom 
I  have  called  Saccharissa,  wonders  that  I  appear  no  more 
at  the  tea-tables,  she  is  hereby  respectfully  informed  the 
reason  y/' 

7.  Writing  Narratives  Leading  up  to  Given 
Conclusions 

Invent  short,  simple  narratives  for  which  the  sen- 
tences given  below  shall  form  appropriate  conclusions. 

Example  : — Suggested  conclusion — "  And  I  left  him 

standing  on  the  bank  of  the  river." 
Narrative: — Hov^  did  it  come  to  pass  that  my  friend 

and  I  parted?     That  is  something  I  shall  never 


NARRATION  113 

forget  until  I  grow  too  old  to  remember  anything. 
Affairs  weren't  going  just  the  way  they  should 
have  gone  at  the  farm,  and  my  folks  decided  to 
sell  the  place  with  the  stock  and  move  into  the  city. 
Happy  ?  Well,  I  just  jumped  up  and  down,  sing- 
ing and  shouting,  for  a  full  minute.  Then  I  re- 
membered. All  the  castles  I  had  built  crumbled 
in  an  instant.  Bob!  He  was  a  puppy  when  I 
was  six,  a  full-grown  dog  well  on  in  life  now 
that  I  was  twelve, — companion  of  all  my  walks, 
the  only  comrade  I  had  on  my  little  fishing  expedi- 
tions along  the  banks  of  the  sluggish  old  Des 
Moines.  What  wonder  it  almost  broke  my  heart 
to  part  with  him  ? 

Our  walks  were  numbered  now.  They  generally 
led  straight  down  to  the  murky  river.  We  would 
both  stare  across  at  the  fields  stretching  to  the 
eastward,  covered  with  ripening  grain.  And  then 
I  would  look  towards  him  and  bury  my  head  in  his 
furry  coat,  while  he  would  whine  pitifully,  as  if 
he  knew. 

Finally  the  day  came.  Early  in  the  morning 
everyone  had  finished  preparations,  and  had 
gathered  at  our  little  landing  to  await  the  steam- 
boat that  was  to  carry  us  away.  Bob  and  I  were 
together  for  the  last  time.  My  arms  were  about 
his  neck;  his  big  brown  head  was  pressed  close  to 
mine.  I  felt  as  if  the  day  of  doom  had  come ;  as 
if  I  were  losing  a  part  of  myself.  I  knew  nothing 
of  what  was  going  on  about  me.  Not  even  that 
the  boat  had  arrived.     Someone  tore  my  hands 


114     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

apart  and  rushed  me  aboard.  The  whistle 
shrieked,  the  engine  started,  the  boat  moved  slowly 
off,  and  I  left  him  standing  on  the  bank  of  the 
river. — Pupil's  exercise, 

1.  I  had  won,  but  somehow  my  victory  failed  to  give 
me  pleasure. 

2.  That  was  the  last  I  saw  of  my  gray-coated  friend. 

3.  At  last  he  joined  us,  and  the  dejected  group  was 
complete. 

4.  Closing  the  gate  behind  her,  she  walked  bravely  away 
in  the  direction  of  the  post-office. 

5.  We  looked  dismally  at  one  another  and  wondered, 
" Had  it  been  worth  while? '' 


CHAPTER  VI 

DESCEIPTIOISr 
I.  Conveying  Impression  by  Detail 

Example  : — 

In  a  turquoise  twilight,  crisp  and  chill, 
A  kafila  camped  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 
The  blue  smoke-haze  of  the  cooking  rose, 
And  tent-peg  answered  to  hammer-nose; 
And  the  picketed  ponies  shag  and  wild, 
Strained  at  their  ropes  as  the  feed  was  piled; 
And  the  bubbling  camels  beside  the  load 
Sprawled  for  a  furlong  adown  the  road. 
And  the  Persian  pussy-cats,  brought  for  sale, 
Spat  at  the  dogs  from  the  camel-bale; 
And  the  tribesmen  bellowed  to  hasten  the  food. 
And  the  camp-fires  twinkled  by  Fort  Jumrood. 

— Kipling:  Ballad  of  the  King's  Jest 

In  the  foregoing  descriptive  passage,  the  impression 
of  the  sound  and  stir  of  an  Eastern  caravan  is  con- 
veyed by  the  many  words  and  phrases  suggesting  action. 
The  tent-pegs  answer  to  the  hammer;  the  wild  ponies 
are  picketed,  and  strain  at  their  ropes;  their  feed  is 
piled ;  the  camels  bubble  and  sprawl ;  the  cats  spit  at  the 
dogs ;  the  tribesmen  bellow.  Light  and  color  are  given 
to  the  picture  by  the  turquoise  twilight,  the  blue  smoke- 
haze,  the  twinkling  campfires. 

115 


116     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

In  the  two  following  'passages,  the  same  subject, 
"  Twilight, ''  has  been  treated  so  as  to  convey  contrasting 
impressions.  What  is  the  impression  conveyed  in  each 
case?  What  details  are  used  to  produce  the  desired 
effect? 

How  silver  falls  the  night! 
The  hills  lie  down  like  sheep ;  the  young  frog  flutes ; 
The  yellow-hammer,  from  his  coppice,  pipes 
Drowsy  rehearsals  of  his  matin-song; 
The  latest  swallow  dips  behind  the  stack. 
'What  beauty  dreams  in  silence!     The  white  stars, 
Like  folded  daisies  in  a  summer  field, 
Sleep  in  their  dew,  and  by  yon  primrose  gap 
In  darkness'  hedge,  St.  Ruth  hath  dropped  her  sickle. 

— Percy  Mackaye:  The  Canterbury  Pilgrims, 
A  sudden  pang  contracts  the  heart  of  day. 
As  fades  the  glory  of  the  summer  sun; 
The  bats  replace  the  swallows  one  by  one; 
The  cries  of  playing  children  die  away. 
Like  one  in  pain,  a  bell  begins  to  sway, 
A  few  white  oxen,  from  their  labor  done, 
Pass  ghostly  through  the  dusk ;  the  crone  that  spun 
Beside  her  door,  turns  in,  and  all  grows  grey. 

— Eugene  Lee-Hamilton. 

Use  each  of  the  following  subjects  as  the  basis  for 
two  paragraphs  of  description  conveying  contrasting  or 
widely  different  impressions: — 

Example. — The  subject  "  Noon  "  may  be  used  as  the 
basis,  first,  for  a  paragraph  describing  the  hurry 
and  crowding  of  the  business  streets  of  a  great 
city  at  the  noonday  hour ;  then,  for  a  paragraph  de- 


DESCRIPTION  m 

scribing  the  stillness  of  a  meadow  on  a  midsum- 
mer noon. 

1.  Noon. 

2.  The  first  snowstorm. 

3.  A  familiar  room. 

4.  A  riverside  scene. 

5.  The  college  campus. 

2.  Description  by  Conveying  General  Impression 
and  by  Detail 

1.  Our  sensations  on  first  beholding  the  Leaning 
Tower  are  peculiar.  It  leans  to  an  alarming  degree,  and 
seen  afar  off  ...  it  has  the  appearance  of  leaning  still 
more.  ...  Its  exceeding  decliningness  has  done  much  to 
stop  people's  eyes  to  its  exceeding  loveliness.  Leigh  Hunt 
has  well  said,  '^  I  know  not  whether  my  first  sensation  at 
the  sight  of  the  Leaning  Tower  was  admiration  of  its  ex- 
treme beauty,  or  astonishment  at  its  posture.''  And  if  so 
cultivated  a  judge  could  thus  hesitate,  is  it  any  wonder 
that  the  prevailing  attitude  is  rather  one  of  open-mouthed 
astonishment  at  its  awryness  than  anything  else?  The 
posture  of  the  belfry,  due,  as  I  think,  to  an  unhappy  acci- 
dent, has  been  its  great  misfortune.  It  is  really  a  thing  of 
exquisite  beauty;  its  loveliness  increases;  it  never  palls  on 
our  senses ;  and  yet  it  is  almost  impossible  that  the  modern 
traveler  (whose  coach  will  not  tarry  his  pleasure)  should, 
in  his  between  train  visit  to  Pisa,  have  time  to  get  the 
posture  out  of  his  mind  and  dwell  in  satisfaction  on  the 
beauty  alone.   .    .    . 

2.  The  foundations  of  the  Leaning  Tower  were  laid  in 
1174,  to  be  precise,  on  the  eve  of  the  Feast  of  St.  Lawrence 
(August  9)    .    .    .  It  is  built  entirely  of  white  marble, 


118    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

tinged  now  with  the  yellow  of  age,  but  white  in  the  sun- 
light, and  white  from  a  distance.  Two  hundred  and  seven 
are  the  marble  columns,  which  run  round  its  eight  stories, 
and  two  hundred  and  ninety  the  marble  steps  which  lead 
to  its  summit.  Here  dwell  the  spirits  of  seven  solemn 
bells,  all  tuned  to  a  most  religious  harmony.  .  .  .  The 
Tower  is  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  feet  high,  and  is 
fourteen  feet  out  of  the  perpendicular.  Loud  and  long  have 
been  the  disputes  as  to  whether  it  was  so  built,  or  whether 
its  position  comes  from  a  slipping  of  the  foundation. 
.  .  .  The  simple  fact  is  that  we  are  without  contemporary 
documents  on  the  subject,  and  in  the  absence  of  such  doc- 
uments, a  positive  conclusion  is  impossible. 

— M.  Carmichael  :  On  the  Road  through  France 
to  Florence. 

In  the  first  of  the  two  paragraphs  quoted  above,  a 
general  impression  is  conveyed;  in  the  second,  a  brief 
but  detailed  description  is  given. 

Write  two  paragraphs,  either  related  or  independent, 
on  one  or  more  of  the  subjects  in  the  following  list.  In 
the  first  paragraph,  try  to  convey  a  general  impression; 
in  the  second,  give  descriptive  detail, 

1.  A  favorite  spot. 

2.  An  unfamiliar  city. 

3.  A  public  building. 

4.  A  classroom  during  an  examination. 

5.  A  pleasure  resort. 

6.  A  summer  cottage. 

7.  A  second-hand  bookstore. 

8.  The  principal's  office. 

9.  A  garden. 
10.  A  church. 


DESCRIPTIOlSr  119 

3.  Pictorial  Description 

Write  one  or  two  short  paragraphs  of  description 
suggested  by  the  quotations  given  below. 

Example  (based  on  6)  : — 

The  dark  wharves  stretch  into  the  stream,  piled  high 
with  merchandise  from  foreign  parts,  and  swarming  with 
men  scurrying  hither  and  thither,  toiling  under  loads. 
The  tides  sweep  eddying  into  the  harbor.  All  manner  of 
ships  dot  the  water;  ships  of  all  sizes,  flying  the  colors  of 
all  nations,  some  back  from  distant  ports,  with  paint  dulled 
by  the  salt  waves;  others  fresh  from  the  shipyards  with 
metal  flashing  in  the  sun,  and  great  white  sails  standing 
out  sharply  against  the  buildings  on  the  shore.  Among 
the  figures  on  the  decks  are  olive-skinned,  oval-visaged 
Spaniards,  and  my  mind  follows  them  to  their  strange, 
bright  land. 

— Pupil's  exercise, 

1.  A  beggar-child  sat  at  a  quay's  edge. 

— Browning:  Tray. 

3.  The  last  tall  son  of  Lot  and  Bellicent, 

Gareth,  in  a  showerful  spring,  stared  at  the  spate. 
— Tennyson:  Gareth  and  Lynette. 

3.  But  may  my  due  feet  never  fail 
To  walk  the  studious  cloister's  pale. 
And  love  the  high  embowed  roof 
With  antique  pillars,  mossy  proof. 

— Milton:  U  Penseroso. 

4.  Still  stands  the  schoolhouse  by  the  road, 
A  ragged  beggar  sunning. 

— Whittier:  In  School  Days, 


120    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

5.  One  by  one  from  the  windows 

The  lights  have  all  been  sped ; 
Never  a  blind  looks  conscious. 
The  street  is  asleep  in  bed ! 

— Henley:  Echoes. 

6.  I  remember  the  black  wharves  and  the  slips. 

And  the  sea-tides  tossing  free ; 
And  Spanish  sailors  with  bearded  lips, 
And  the  beauty  and  mystery  of  the  ships. 

— Longfellow:  My  Lost  Youth, 

4.  Description  of  Persons 

The  following  descriptions  of  persons  (in  which  class 
Dr,  John  Browns  Rab  may  without  impropriety  he  in- 
cluded) convey  impressions  hy  emphasizing  certain 
marked  characteristics  or  significant  circumstances. 
For  example,  in  (1),  the  details,  few  as  they  are,  show 
plainly  Mrs,  Transome's  high  breeding  and  narrow 
means.  What  are  the  impressions  conveyed  hy  the  other 
selections? 

1.  She  was  a  tall,  proud-looking  woman,  with  abundant 
gray  hair,  dark  eyes  and  eyebrows,  and  a  somewhat  eagle- 
like though  not  unfeminine  face.  Her  tight-fitting  black 
dress  was  much  worn ;  the  fine  lace  of  her  cuffs  and  collar 
and  of  the  small  veil  which  fell  backward  over  her  high 
comb  was  visibly  mended;  but  rare  jewels  flashed  on  her 
hands,  which  lay  on  her  folded  black-clad  arms  like  finely 
cut  onyx  cameos. 

— George  Eliot:  Felix  Holt, 

2.  Sir  Abraham  was  a  tall,  thin  man,  with  hair  prema- 
turely gray,  but  bearing  no  other  sign  of  age.  He  had  a 
slight  stoop,  in  his  neck  rather  than  his  back,  acquired  by 


DESCEIPTION  121 

his  constant  habit  of  leaning  forward  as  he  addressed  his 
various  audiences.  He  might  be  fifty  years  old,  and  would 
have  looked  young  for  his  age  had  not  constant  work  hard- 
ened his  features,  and  given  him  the  appearance  of  a 
machine  with  a  mind.  His  face  was  full  of  intellect  but 
devoid  of  natural  expression. 

— Trollope:  The  Warden, 
3.  My  liege,  I  did  deny  no  prisoners ; 

But  I  remember,  when  the  fight  was  done, 
When  I  was  dry  with  rage  and  extreme  toil. 
Breathless  and  faint,  leaning  upon  my  sword. 
Came  there  a  certain  lord,  neat,  trimly  dressed, 
Fresh  as  a  bridegroom,  and  his  chin,  new  reap'd, 
Show'd  like  a  stubble-land  at  harvest  home ; 
He  was  perfumed  like  a  milliner; 
And  'twixt  his  finger  and  his  thumb  he  held 
A  pouncet-box,  which  ever  and  anon 
He  gave  his  nose,  and  took't  away  again; 
Who,  therewith  angry,  when  it  next  came  there. 
Took  it  in  snuff, — and  still  he  smil'd  and  talk'd, 
And  as  the  soldiers  bore  dead  bodies  by. 
He  call'd  them  untaught  knaves,  unmannerly, 
To  bring  a  slovenly  unhandsome  corse 
Betwixt  the  wind  and  his  nobility. 

— Shakespeare:  Henry  IV. 
4.  The  reader  is  desired  to  ,mark  this  Monk.  A  person- 
able man  of  seven  and  forty,  stout  made,  stands  erect  as 
a  pillar;  with  bushy  eyebrows,  the  eyes  of  him  beaming 
onto  you  in  a  really  strange  way;  the  face  massive  grave, 
with  a  very  eminent  nose ;  his  head  almost  bald,  its  auburn 
remnants  of  hair,  and  the  copious  ruddy  beard  getting 
slightly  streaked  with  gray.  This  is  Brother  Samson;  a 
man  worth  looking  at. 

— Carlyle  :  Past  and  Present 


122     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

5.  Amid  a  heap  of  books  and  other  literary  lumber  which 
had  accumulated  around  him,  sat,  in  his  well-worn  leathern 
elbow-chair,  the  learned  minister  of  St.  Ronan's;  a  thin, 
spare  man,  beyond  the  middle  age,  of  a  dark  complexion, 
but  with  eyes  which,  though  now  obscured  and  vacant, 
had  been  once  bright,  soft,  and  expressive.  His  hair 
might  have  appeared  much  more  disorderly,  had  it  not  been 
thinned  by  time;  black  stockings,  ungartered,  marked  his 
professional  dress,  and  his  feet  were  thrust  into  old  slip- 
shod shoes,  which  served  him  instead  of  slippers. 

— Scott:  St.  Ronan's  Well. 

6.  She  was  by  no  means  young,  and  her  hair  was  thin  as 
well  as  gray;  her  face,  which  was  oval  and  delicately 
curved,  might  formerly  have  been  beautiful ;  the  eyes  were 
bright  and  eager,  and  constantly  in  motion;  her  lips  were 
thin  and  as  full  of  independent  action  as  her  eyes ;  she  had 
thin  hands,  so  small  that  they  might  have  belonged  to  a 
child  of  eight,  and  she  might  boast,  when  inclined  for 
vaunting,  the  narrowest  and  most  sloping  shoulders  that 
ever  were  seen. 

— Sir  Walter  Besant  :  All  Sorts  and  Conditions 
of  Men. 

7.  He  was  brindled  and  gray  like  Rubislaw  granite ;  his 
hair  short,  hard  and  close  like  a  lion's ;  his  body  thick-set, 
like  a  little  bull — a  sort  of  compressed  Hercules  of  a  dog. 
He  must  have  been  ninety  pounds'  weight,  at  the  least. 
He  had  a  large,  blunt  head,  his  muzzle  black  as  night,  his 
mouth  blacker  than  any  night,  a  tooth  or  two — being  all  he 
had — gleaming  out  of  his  jaws  of  darkness.  His  head 
was  scarred  with  the  records  of  old  wounds,  a  sort  of 
series  of  fields  of  battle  all  over  it;  one  eye  out,  one  ear 
cropped  as  close  as  was  Archbishop  Leighton's  father's. 

— Pb,  John  Brown  ;  Rab  and  His  Friends. 


DESCRIPTION  123 

Write  brief  descriptions  of  persons  or  of  animals, 
including  such  details  as  convey  impressions  of  the  fol- 
lowing characteristics  or  conditions: — 

1.  Self-respecting  poverty. 

2.  Conscious  importance. 

3.  Timidity. 

4.  Prosperity. 

5.  Severity. 

6.  Indolence. 

7.  Defeat  (moral). 

8.  Insignificance. 

5.  Generalized  Description 

A.  In  the  paragraph  given  below,  an  object  is  de- 
scribed clearly  and  accurately  by  naming  all  the  fea- 
tures common  to  every  object  belonging  to  the  class. 

The  first  book  from  which  children  of  the  Colonists 
learned  their  letters  and  to  spell,  was  not  really  a  book  at 
all,  in  our  sense  of  the  word.  It  was  what  was  called  a 
horn-book.  A  thin  piece  of  wood,  usually  about  four  or 
five  inches  long  and  two  inches  wide,  had  placed  upon  it  a 
sheet  of  paper  a  trifle  smaller,  printed  at  the  top  with  the 
alphabet  in  large  and  small  letters;  below  were  simple 
syllables  such  as  ab,  eb,  ib,  ob,  etc. ;  then  came  the  Lord's 
Prayer.  This  printed  page  was  covered  with  a  thin  sheet 
of  yellowish  horn,  which  was  not  as  transparent  as  glass, 
yet  permitted  the  letters  to  be  read  through  it ;  and  both  the 
paper  and  the  horn  were  fastened  around  the  edges  to  the 
wood  by  a  narrow  strip  of  metal,  usually  brass,  which  was 
tacked  down  by  fine  tacks  or  nails.  It  was,  therefore,  a 
book  of  a  single  page.  At  the  two  upper  corners  of  the 
page  were  crosses,  hence  learning  to  read  the  horn-book  was 


124     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

often  called  "  reading  a  criss-cross  row."  At  the  lower  end 
of  the  wooden  back  was  usually  a  little  handle  which  often 
was  pierced  with  a  hole;  thus  the  horn-book  could  be  car- 
ried by  a  string,  which  could  be  placed  around  the  neck  or 
hung  by  the  side. 

— Alice  Morse  Earle:  Child-Life  in  Colonial 
Days. 

Write  a  paragraph  of  generalized  description,  giving 
a  clear  and  accurate  idea  of  one  of  the  subjects  in  the 
following  list: — 

1.  A  department  store. 

2.  A  grain  elevator. 

3.  A  college  student's  room. 

4.  A  tennis  court. 
6.  A  dachshund. 

6.  A  college  athlete. 

7.  An  apartment  house. 

8.  A  catboat. 

9.  A  florist's  shop. 
10.  A  Christmas  tree. 

B.  The  first  of  the  two  paragraphs  quoted  below  cortr 
tains  a  generalized  description  of  a  type  of  dwelling, 
the  early  New  Yorh  house;  the  second,  a  description  of 
a  particular  dwelling,  the  parsonage  at  Haworth,  Note 
the  difference  in  treatment  and  write  two  paragraphs  on 
each  of  the  subjects  given  in  the  subjoined  list.  Con- 
sider each  subject  first  as  naming  a  class  or  type,  and 
then  as  naming  a  special  member  of  a  class.  Aim  at 
giving  a  clear  and  vivid  impression  in  each  paragraph, 

(a)  The  houses  of  the  rich  were  quaint  and  comfortable, 
with  steeply  sloping  roofs  and  crow-step  gables.     A  wide 


DESCEIPTION  125 

hall  led  through  the  middle,  from  door  to  door,  with  rooms 
on  either  side.  Everything  was  solid  and  substantial,  from 
the  huge  canopied  four-post  bedstead  and  the  cumbrous 
cabinets,  chairs,  tables,  stools,  and  settees,  to  the  stores 
of  massive  silver  plate,  each  piece  a  rich  heirloom,  engraved 
with  the  coat-of-arms  of  the  owner.  There  were  rugs  on 
the  floors,  and  curtains  and  leather  hangings  on  the  walls ; 
and  there  were  tall  eight-day  clocks,  and  stiff  ancestral 
portraits.  Clumsy  carriages,  and  fat  geldings  to  draw 
them,  stood  in  a  few  of  the  stables;  and  the  trim  gardens 
were  filled  with  shrubbery  fruit-trees,  and  a  wealth  of 
flowers,  laid  out  in  prim,  sweet-smelling  beds,  divided  by 
neatly-kept  paths. 

— Theodore  Eoosevelt:  New  York. 
(b)  The  parsonage  stands  at  right  angles  to  the  road, 
facing  down  upon  the  church;  so  that,  in  fact,  par- 
sonage, church,  and  belfried  schoolhouse,  form  three 
sides  of  an  irregular  oblong,  of  which  the  fourth 
is  open  to  the  fields  and  moors  that  lie  beyond. 
The  area  of  this  oblong  is  filled  up  by  a  crowded 
churchyard,  and  a  small  garden  or  court  in  front  of 
the  clergyman's  house.  .  .  .  Underneath  the  windows 
is  a  narrow  flower  border,  carefully  tended  in  days  of  yore, 
although  only  the  most  hardy  plants  could  be  made  to 
grow  there.  Within  the  stone  wall,  which  keeps  out  the 
surrounding  churchyard,  are  bushes  of  elder  and  lilac;  the 
rest  of  the  ground  is  occupied  by  a  square  grass  plot  and 
a  gravel  walk.  The  house  is  of  grey  stone,  two  stories 
high,  heavily  roofed  with  flags,  in  order  to  resist  the  winds 
that  might  strip  off  a  lighter  covering.  It  appears  to  have 
been  built  about  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  to  consist  of 
four  rooms  on  each  story,  the  two  windows  on  the  right 
(as  the  visitor  stands  with  his  back  to  the  church,  ready  to 
enter  in  at  the  front  door)  belonging  to  Mr.  Bronte's  study, 


126     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

the  two  on  the  left  to  the  family  sitting-room.  Every- 
thing about  the  place  tells  of  the  most  dainty  order,  the 
most  exquisite  cleanliness.  The  doorsteps  are  spotless,  the 
small,  old-fashioned  window-panes  glitter  like  looking- 
glass.  Inside  and  outside  of  that  house  cleanliness  goes 
up  into  its  essence,  purity. 

— Mks.  Gaskell:  Life  of  Charlotte  Bronte. 

1.  The  suburban  town. 

2.  The  railway  station. 

3.  The  public  library. 

4.  The  country  store. 

5.  The  ocean  steamer. 

*  6.  Contrasting  Methods  of  Description 

(Literary  and  Scientific  Methods.) 

The  following  passage  from  Edmund  Clarence  Sted- 
man's  "  The  Nature  of  Poetry,''  illustrates  the  differ- 
ence between  the  poetic  and  the  scientific  method  of 
treating  a  familiar  subject: — 

"  But  to  show  the  distinction  as  directly  affecting 
modes  of  expression,  take  .  .  .  for  instance,  the 
methods  applied  to  the  treatment  of  one  of  our  recur- 
rent coast  storms.     The  poet  says : 

^When  descends  on  the  Atlantic 

The  gigantic 
Storm  wind  of  the  Equinox, 
Landward  in  his  wrath  he  scourges 

The  toiling  surges 
Laden  with  sea-weed  from  the  rocks.' 

Or  take  this  stanza  by  a  later  balladist : 


DESCRIPTION  127 

^  The  East  wind  gathered,  all  unknown, 
A  thick  sea-cloud  his  course  before. 

He  left  by  night  the  frozen  zone, 
And  smote  the  cliffs  of  Labrador; 

He  lashed  the  coasts  on  either  hand. 

And  betwixt  the  Cape  and  Newfoundland 
Into  the  bay  his  armies  pour/ 

All  this  impersonation  is  translated  by  the  Weather 
Bureau  into  something  like  the  following : 

An  area  of  extreme  low  pressure  is  rapidly  moving 
up  the  Atlantic  coast,  with  wind  and  rain.  Storm-centre 
now  off  Charleston,  S.  C.  Wind  N.  E.  Velocity  54. 
Barometer  29.6.  The  disturbance  will  reach  New  York  on 
Wednesday,  and  proceed  eastward  to  the  Banks  and  Bay 
St.  Lawrence.  Danger  signals  ordered  for  all  North  At- 
lantic ports." 

Reversing  the  process  illustrated  in  the  above-quoted 
selection,  hut  using  'prose  instead  of  poetry,  write  short 
descriptive  passages  based  on  the  following  reports: — 

1.  The  cold  wave  this  morning  covers  the  entire  state, 
and  has  extended  into  the  northern  and  western  upper  lake 
region.  The  lowest  temperature  reported  was  21°  below 
zero  at  White  River,  Canada.  In  New  York  the  thermom- 
eter varied  from  20°  to  15°  with  low  barometric  pressure, 
and  heavy  snowfall. 

2.  The  storm  of  Wednesday  developed  great  energy 
during  the  day,  with  a  northward  movement,  and  is  central 
this  morning  over  eastern  New  York.  The  rain  area  for 
the  day  covered  the  Atlantic  States  and  lower  lake  region, 
and  there  were  heavy  northeasterly  gales  on  the  N.  E. 
coast,  and  some  moderately  high  winds  on  the  lower  coast. 


CHAPTEE  VII 

EXPOSITIO:t^ 

I.  Definition 

A.  'A  simple  form  of  exposition  is  definition.  A 
logical  definition  should  name  the  term  to  be  defined, 
place  it  in  its  class  (genus),  and  give  the  differentia,  or 
points  wherein  it  differs  from  all  other  members  of  the 
class.  A  logical  definition  should  be  distinguished  from 
a  characterization,  which  is  a  description  of  a  term  by 
naming  one  or  more  representative  qualities.  For  ex- 
ample, Newman's  statement,  ^^  It  is  almost  the  defini- 
tion of  a  gentleman  to  say  that  he  is  one  who  never 
inflicts  pain,"  fulfils  by  implication  the  requirements  of 
a  logical  definition,  the  term  to  be  defined  being  "  gen- 
tleman," the  genus  "  man,"  and  the  differentia  "  who 
never  inflicts  pain."  The  familiar  saying,  "  A  public 
office  is  a  public  trust,"  is  a  characterization. 

Which  of  the  following  quotations  are  logical  defini- 
tions? Which  are  characterizations?  In  the  case  of 
the  definitions,  state  (1)  the  term  to  be  defined,  (2) 
the  genus,  (S)  the  differentia. 

1.  Manners  are  the  happy  ways  of  doing  things. 

— Emeeson. 
128 


EXPOSITION  129 

2.  A  proverb  is  the  wisdom  of  many,  and  the  wit  of  one. 

— LoED  John  Eussell. 

3.  The  epigram,  in  its  first  intention,  may  be  described 
as  a  very  short  poem,  summing  up  as  though  in  a  memo- 
rial inscription  what  it  is  desired  to  make  permanently 
memorable  in  a  single  action  or  situation. 

— J.  W.  Mackail. 

4.  The  qualities  rare  in  a  bee  that  we  meet 

In  an  epigram  never  should  fail; 
The  body  should  always  be  little  and  sweet. 
And  the  sting  should  be  left  in  its  tail. 

— From  the  Latin;  author  unknown, 

5.  A  people  is  but  the  attempt  of  many 
To  rise  to  the  completer  life  of  one. 

— Browning. 

6.  I  have  called  the  principle  by  which  each  slight  vari- 
ation, if  useful,  is  preserved,  natural  selection. 

— Darwin. 

7.  Man  is  a  noble  animal,  splendid  in  ashes,  and  pom- 
pous in  the  grave.  __gj^  Thomas  Browne. 

8.  A  good  citizen  is  .  .  .  the  constant  participator  in 
political  struggles,  who  has  well-governed  convictions,  and 
a  strong  determination  to  influence,  by  all  honorable  means, 
the  opinion  of  the  community. 

— Nicholas  Murray  Butler. 

9.  Philistine  must  have  originally  meant,  in  the  mind  of 
those  who  invented  the  term,  a  strong,  dogged,  unenlight- 
ened opponent  of  the  children  of  light. 

— Matthew  Arnold. 

10.  Literature  consists  of  all  the  books — and  they  are 
not  so  many — ^where  moral  truth  and  human  passion  are 
touched  with  a  certain  largeness,  sanity,  and  attraction  of 
^^^^^'  — John  Morley. 


130     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

B.  1.  Chivalry  is  the  enthusiasm  of  the  strong  for  the 
rights  of  the  weak. 

^BURKE. 

2.  A  lyric  poem  is  a  short,  intense  expression  of  ideal 
emotion,  embodied  in  singing  verse. 

— H.  Bates:  Introduction  to  Pdlgrave*s  '^Golden 
Treasury" 

3.  History  in  its  true  sense  is  a  traveling  in  the  past. 

— W.  H.  Mallock. 

4.  An  examination  is  an  impious  attempt  to  fathom  the 
depth  of  human  ignorance. 

— W.  H.  Thompson. 

5.  A  snob  is  one  who  meanly  admires  mean  things. 

— Thackeray. 

6.  Ethics  is  the  art  and  science  of  human  action  as  di- 
rected towards  the  chief  good  of  life. 

— Aristotle. 

7.  Government  is  a  contrivance  of  human  wisdom  to 
provide  for  human  wants. 

— Burke. 

8.  I  have  read  somewhere  .  .  .  that  history  is  philos- 
ophy teaching  by  example. 

— Bolingbroke. 

9.  Democracy  means  a  government  not  merely  by  num- 
bers of  isolated  individuals,  but  by  a  demos — ^by  men  accus- 
tomed to  live  in  demoi  or  corporate  bodies,  and  accustomed 
therefore  to  the  self-control,  obedience  to  law  and  self-sacri- 
ficing public  spirit  without  which  a  corporate  body  cannot 
exist. 

— Quoted  by  G.  W.  E.  Russell  in  An  Onlooker's 
Notebook. 

10.  The  meaning  of  democracy  is  not  "  I'm  as  good  as 
you  are,"  but  "You're  as  good  as  I  am." 

— Lowell. 


EXPOSITION  131 

C.  Both  the  form  and  the  substance  of  a  definition 
may  he  indicative  of  the  point  of  view  or  the  character 
of  the  framer.  In  what  way  does  each  of  the  following 
definitions  taken  from  Johnson  s  Dictionary  reflect 
Johnson  s  individuality  ? 

1.  Networks — anything  reticulated  or  decussated  at 
equal  distances,  with  interstices  between  the  intersections. 

2.  Grub-street — the  name  of  a  street  in  London,  much 
inhabited  by  writers  of  small  histories,  dictionaries,  and 
temporary  poems;  whence  any  mean  production  is  called 
Gruh-street. 

3.  Lexicographer — a  writer  of  dictionaries,  a  harmless 
drudge. 

4.  Excise — a  hateful  tax  levied  upon  commodities,  and 
adjudged  not  by  the  common  judges  of  property,  but 
wretches  hired  by  those  to  whom  excise  is  paid. 

5.  Pension — ^pay  given  to  a  state  hireling  to  betray  his 
country. 

6.  Oats — a  grain  which  in  England  is  generally  given 
to  horses,  but  in  Scotland  supports  the  people. 

2.  Exposition  of  Terms 

A.  A  term  may  be  explained  in  a  paragraph  of  expo- 
sition as  follows: — 

Example. — Paragraph  of  exposition  on  the  term  "  Mo- 
hocks." 

The  literature  of  the  time  is  full  of  the  terrible  doings 
of  the  Mohocks.  The  famous  name  of  these  disturbers  of 
the  public  peace  is  supposed  to  be  taken  from  the  Mohawk 
Indians,  a  tribe  which  had  its  home  in  what  is  now  the 
state  of  New  York.     The  Mohocks  were,  in  fact,  a  race 


132     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

of  street  ruffians  whose  doings  corresponded  in  many  ways 
with  those  of  the  modern  Hooligans,  only  that  the  Mohocks 
were  recruited  for  the  most  part  from  a  class  much  higher 
than  that  which  pesters  the  streets  in  London's  present 
days.  The  Mohocks  were  the  "  bloods "  and  "  rakes " 
of  that  generation,  and  were  dissipated  scamps,  belonging 
to  what  are  conventionally  termed  the  better  classes  of  so- 
ciety. Their  main  ambition  and  chief  pastime  in  life 
appear  to  have  been  to  set  the  ordinary  civic  laws  at  de- 
fiance and  win  fame  for  themselves  by  deeds  of  wanton  and 
utterly  unprofitable  violence  in  the  streets  at  night.  A 
man  acquired  renown  among  his  own  set  by  leading  a  band 
of  this  kind  and  making  night  hideous  to  the  peaceful  pas- 
sengers in  the  street. 

— Justin  McCarthy:  Reign  of  Queen  Anne, 

Write  paragraphs  of  exposition,  explaining  the  fol- 
lowing terms  : — 

1.  The  college  yell. 

2.  Old  age  pensions. 

3.  Association  football. 

4.  The  Audubon  Society. 

5.  A  county  fair. 

6.  Yellow  journalism. 

7.  The  Puritan  Fathers. 

8.  Hallowe'en. 

9.  Guy  Fawkes'  Day. 
10.  The  "  Forty-Niners.'' 

*  B.     Explain  the  appropriateness  of  the  titles  of  the 
following  works: — 

1.  Vanity  Fair. — Thackeray. 

2,  Twelfth  Night. — Shakespeare. 


EXPOSITION  133 

3.  The  Giaour. — ^Byron. 

4.  Sartor  Eesartus. — Carlyle. 

5.  Sesame  and  Lilies. — Euskin. 

6.  Ichabod. — Whittier. 

7.  A  Laodicean. — Thomas  Hardy. 

8.  The  New  Grub  Street. — George  Gissing. 

9.  Pisgah-Sights. — Browning. 
10.  Prseterita. — Euskin. 

3.  Exposition  of  a  Process 

The  following  paragraph  illustrates  an  exposition  of 
a  process  leading  to  the  production  of  a  concrete  result. 

The  making  of  a  portion  of  the  autumn's  crop  of  apples 
into  dried  applies,  apple-sauce,  and  apple-butter  for  winter 
was  preceded  in  many  country  homes  by  an  apple-paring. 
The  cheerful  kitchen  of  a  farmhouse  was  set  with  an  array 
of  empty  pans,  tubs,  and  baskets;  of  sharp  knives  and 
heaped-up  barrels  of  apples.  A  circle  of  laughing  faces 
completed  the  scene,  and  the  barrels  of  apples  were  quickly 
emptied  by  the  many  skillful  hands.  The  apples  intended 
for  drying  were  strung  on  linen  threads  and  hung  on  the 
kitchen  and  attic  rafters.  The  following  day  the  stout 
crane  in  the  open  fire-place  was  hung  with  brass  kettles 
which  were  filled  with  the  pared  apples,  sweet  and  sour  in 
proper  proportions,  sour  at  the  bottom  since  they  required 
more  time  to  cook.  If  quinces  could  be  had,  they  were 
added  to  give  flavor,  and  molasses,  or  boiled-down  pungent 
"apple-molasses,"  was  added  for  sweetening.  As  there 
was  danger  that  the  sauce  would  burn  over  the  roaring 
logs,  many  housewives  placed  clean  straw  at  the  bottom  of 
the  kettle  to  keep  the  apples  from  the  fiercest  heat.  Days 
were  spent  in  preparing  the  winter's  stock  of  apple-sauce, 
but  when  done  and  placed  in  barrels  in  the  cellar,  it  was 


134     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

always  ready  for  use,  and  when  slightly  frozen  was  a  keen 
relish.  Apple-butter  was  made  of  the  pared  apples  boiled 
down  with  cider. 

— Alice  Morse  Earle:  Home  Life  in  Colonial 
Days. 

Write  paragraphs  of  exposition  on  the  following 
subjects: — 

1.  How  to  make  a  window-box. 

2.  How  to  build  a  grate  fire. 

3.  How  to  make  a  snow-man. 

4.  How  to  make  a  pine  pillow. 

5.  How  to  passepartout  a  picture. 

6.  How  to  make  an  ornamental  calendar. 

7.  How  to  make  an  omelette. 

8.  How  to  prepare  a  camp  breakfast. 

9.  How  to  make  Christmas  greens. 
10.  How  to  make  a  magazine  cover. 

4.  Exposition  of  a  Method 

The  following  paragraph  contains  the  exposition  of  a 
method  or  plan. 

The  tubbing  season  is  brought  to  an  end  with  a  race  be- 
tween the  fours.  Where  there  are  half  a  dozen  fours  in 
training,  two  heats  of  three  boats  each  are  rowed  the  first 
day,  and  the  finals  between  the  best  two  crews  on  the  fol- 
lowing day.  The  method  of  conducting  these  races  is 
characteristic  of  boating  on  the  Isis  and  the  Cam.  As 
the  river  is  too  narrow  to  row  abreast,  the  crews  start  a 
definite  distance  apart,  and  row  to  three  flags  a  mile  or 
so  up  the  river,  which  are  exactly  as  far  apart  as  the  boats 
at  starting.     At  each  of  these  flags  an  eightsman  is  sta- 


EXPOSITION  135 

tioned.  In  the  races  I  saw  they  flourished  huge  dueling 
pistols,  and  when  the  appropriate  crew  passed  the  flag,  the 
appropriate  man  let  off  his  pistol.  The  crew  that  is  first 
welcomed  with  a  pistol-shot  wins.  These  races  are  less  ex- 
citing than  the  bumping  races ;  yet  they  have  a  picturesque 
quality  of  their  own,  and  they  settle  the  question  of  supe- 
riority with  much  less  rowing.  The  members  of  the  win- 
ning four  get  each  a  pretty  enough  prize  to  remember  the 
race  by,  and  the  torpidsman  at  stroke  holds  the  "Junior 
fours  cup ''  for  the  year. 

— John  Corbin:  An  American  at  Oxford. 

Write  paragraphs  of  exposition  on  the  following  sub- 
jects:— 

1.  How  the  president  is  elected. 

2.  How  a  school  library  is  catalogued. 

3.  How  the  parts  are  assigned  in  amateur  theatricals. 

4.  How  to  care  for  a  city  garden. 

5.  How  to  care  for  rabbits. 

6.  How  to  pack  a  trunk. 

7.  How  to  criticise  a  novel. 

8.  How  to  decorate  a  Christmas  tree. 

9.  How  to  hive  bees. 

10.  How  to  organize  a  glee  club. 

5.  Exposition  of  Propositions 

The  following  selection  illustrates  the  exposition  of  a 
proposition  or  statement, 

"  Opinion  in  good  men,"  says  Milton,  "  is  but  knowledge 
in  the  making."  All  opinions,  properly  so  called,  are 
stages  on  the  road  to  truth.  It  does  not  follow  that  a  man 
will  travel  further;  but  if  he  has  really  considered  the 


136     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

world  and  drawn  a  conclusion,  he  has  traveled  as  far. 
This  does  not  apply  to  formulae  got  by  rote,  which  are 
stages  on  the  road  to  nowhere  but  second  childhood  and  the 
grave.  To  have  a  catchword  in  your  mouth  is  not  the  same 
thing  as  to  hold  an  opinion;  still  less  is  it  the  s^me  thing 
as  to  have  made  one  for  yourself. 

— Stevenson:  Virginihus  Puerisque, 

Write  short  expositions  of  the  propositions  in  the 
following: — 

A.    1.  Evil  is  wrought  by  want  of  thought 
As  well  as  by  want  of  heart. 

— Hood. 

2.  At  leaving  even  the  most  unpleasant  people 
And  places,  one  keeps  looking  at  the  steeple. 

— ^Byron. 

3.  One  thorn  of  experience  is  worth  a  whole  wilder- 
ness of  criticism. 

— Lowell. 

4.  To  be  conscious  that  you  are  ignorant  is  a  great 
step  towards  knowledge. 

— Disraeli. 

5.  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe  than  a  cycle  of  Cathay. 

— Tennyson. 

*  B.     1.  To  be  seventy  years  young  is  sometimes  far 
more  cheerful  and  hopeful  than  to  be  forty  years  old. 

— Holmes. 

2.  There  is  only  one  real  misfortune  for  a  man,  and  that 
is  to  know  that  he  has  been  at  fault. 

— La  Bruyere. 

3.  Nothing  except  a  battle  lost  can  be  half  so  melan- 
choly as  a  battle  won. 

— The  Duke  of  Wellington. 


EXPOSITION  137 

4.  God  bless  the  King! — I  mean,  the  Faith's  defender; 
God  bless — no  harm  in  blessing — the  Pretender! 
But  who  Pretender  is,  and  who  is  King, 

God  bless  us  all — that's  quite  another  thing. 

— John  Byrom. 

5.  The  fraction  of  life  can  be  increased  in  value  not  so 
much  by  increasing  the  numerator  as  by  lessening  the  de- 
nominator. Nay,  unless  my  algebra  deceive  me,  unity 
itself  divided  by  zero  will  give  infinity.  Make  thy  claim 
of  wages  a  zero  then — thou  hast  the  world  under  thy  feet. 

— Carlyle. 

6.  Classification  of  Terms 

A  term  is  classified  when  a  division  is  made  v^^hich 
includes  all  the  parts  considered  under  the  head  of  the 
term. 

Example. — The  term  "  literature  "  may  be  classified 
by  division  into  "  prose  "  and  "  poetry  " ;  the  term 
"  trees/'  by  division  into  "  deciduous  trees  "  and 
"  evergreen  trees." 

A.  Classify  the  following  terms,  dividing  into  two 
groups  in  each  case.  Avoid  classifications  stated  in 
merely  negative  form,  such  as  ''  hrich "  and  "  not- 
hrick  "  for  ''  houses  " ;  and  incomplete  classifications, 
such  as  *'  rich  "  and  "  poor ''  for  ''  residents  of  New 
Yorh." 

1.  Monarchies. 

2.  Citizens. 

3.  Soldiers. 

4.  Athletics. 

5.  Money.  .  ' 


138     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

6.  Plants. 

7.  Mathematics. 

8.  Lakes. 

9.  Matter. 
10.  Europeans. 


B.     Classify  the  terms  given  below,  making  three  or 
more  divisions. 

Example. — "  Sentences  "  may  be  classified  as  "  simple, 
complex,  compound  " ;  "  forms  of  discourse  "  as 
"  narration,  description,  exposition,  argumenta- 
tion." 

1.  History. 

2.  Government. 

3.  Narrative  poetry. 

4.  College  students. 

5.  Mathematics. 

6.  Matter. 

7.  Immigrants. 

8.  Caucasians. 

9.  Fiction. 
10.  Lines. 


C.    Different  classifications  of  the  same  term  may  be 
made  by  using  different  principles  of  division. 

Example. — "  Newspapers "  may  be  classified  as 
"  morning "  and  "  evening,"  by  considering  the 
time  of  publication;  as  "partisan"  or  "non-par- 
tisan," by  considering  their  political  attitude. 


CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH    139 

Classify  each  of  the  following  terms  according  to  two 
or  more  principles  of  division: — 

1.  Schools. 

2.  Colleges. 

3.  Studies. 

4.  Polygons. 

5.  Music. 

6.  Ships. 

7.  Words. 

8.  Languages. 

9.  Quadrilaterals. 
10.  Poetry. 


CHAPTEE  VIII 

AKGUMENTATIOlSr 
I.  Statement  of  the  Proposition 

In  argumentation,  reasons  are  set  forth  for  the 
purpose  of  deriving  a  conclusion  from  them.  The  con- 
clusion to  be  reached  must  be  in  the  form  of  a  state- 
ment or  proposition. 

A.  From  the  terms  given  helow  derive  definitely 
worded  propositions  which  may  he  argued. 

Example. — From  the  term  "  Secondary  education  " 
may  be  derived  the  proposition,  "  Secondary  edu- 
cation should  be  made  compulsory  in  the  United 
States,"  or  "  Secondary  education  should  be  pro- 
vided by  the  community  only  for  such  pupils  as 
can  prove  their  ability  to  profit  by  it." 

1.  Naturalization. 

2.  The  study  of  Latin. 

3.  The  small  college. 

4.  The  reading  of  popular  fiction. 

5.  Old  age  pensions. 

6.  The  elective  system  of  studies. 

7.  Moving  picture  exhibitions. 

8.  Vivisection. 

9.  Industrial  education. 
10.  Fraternities. 

140 


ARGUMENTATION  141 

B.  8tate  the  propositions  contained  or  implied  in 
the  paragraphs  of  argumentation  given  below. 

Example. — Had  Shylock  relented  after  that  most  beau- 
tiful appeal  to  liis  mercy,  which  Shakespeare  has 
here  placed  as  the  exponent  of  the  higher  principle 
on  which  all  law  and  all  right  are  essentially  de- 
pendent, the  real  moral  of  the  drama  would  have 
been  destroyed.  The  weight  of  injuries  trans- 
mitted to  Shylock  from  his  forefathers,  and  still 
heaped  upon  him  even  by  the  best  of  those  by  whom 
he  was  surrounded,  was  not  so  easily  to  become 
light,  and  to  cease  to  exasperate  his  nature.  Nor 
would  it  have  been  a  true  picture  of  society  in  the 
sixteenth  century  had  the  poet  shown  the  judges  of 
the  Jew  wholly  magnanimous  in  granting  him  the 
mercy  which  he  denied  to  the  Christian.  .  .  . 
— Chas.  Knight  :  Pictorial  Edition  of  Shake- 
speare, 

The  proposition  implied  in  the  above-quoted  para- 
graph may  be  stated  thus:  The  conclusion  of  the  trial 
in  "  The  Merchant  of  Venice  "  is  both  effective  and 
appropriate. 

1.  I  have  no  desire  to  lessen  our  guilt,  whatever  cruel- 
ties may  have  been  practised  by  English  hands  against  the 
Heavenly  Maid.  And  much  was  practised — the  iron  cage, 
the  chains,  the  brutal  guards,  the  final  stake,  for  which 
may  God  and  also  the  world  forgive  a  crime  fully  and  often 
confessed.  But  it  was  by  French  wits  and  French  inge- 
nuity that  she  was  tortured  for  three  months  and  betrayed 
to  her  death.  A  prisoner  of  war,  yet  taken  and  tried  as 
a  criminal,  the  first  step  in  her  downfall  was  a  disgrace  to 


142     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

two  chivalrous  nations;  but  the  shame  is  greater  upon 
those  who  sold  than  upon  those  who  bought;  and  greatest 
of  all  upon  those  who  did  not  move  heaven  and  earth,  nay, 
did  not  move  a  finger  to  rescue.  And  indeed  we  have  been 
the  most  penitent  of  all  concerned;  we  have  shrived  our- 
self  by  open  confession  and  tears.  We  have  quarreled 
with  our  Shakespeare  on  account  of  the  Maid,  and  do  not 
know  how  we  could  have  forgiven  him,  but  for  the  notable 
and  delightful  discovery  that  it  was  not  he,  after  all,  but 
another  and  a  lesser  hand  that  endeavored  to  befoul  her 
shining  garments.  France  has  never  quarreled  with  her 
Voltaire  for  a  much  fouler  and  more  intentional  blas- 
phemy. — M-UQ,  Oliphant  :  Life  of  Jeanne  d'Arc. 

2.  Wherefore  did  Nature  pour  her  bounties  forth 
With  such  a  full  and  unwithdrawing  hand. 
Covering  the  earth  with  odours,  fruits,  and  flocks, 
Thronging  the  seas  with  spawn  innumerable. 
But  all  to  sate  and  please  the  curious  taste? 
And  set  to  work  millions  of  spinning  worms 
That  in  their  green  shops  weave  the  smooth-haired 

silk 
To  deck  her  sons ;  and  that  no  corner  might 
Be  vacant  of  her  plenty,  in  her  own  loins 
She  hutched  the  all-worshipped  ore  and  precious 

gems 
To  store  her  children  with.     If  all  the  world 
Should,  in  a  pet  of  temperance,  feed  on  pulse. 
Drink   the   clear   stream,   and   nothing   wear   but 

frieze, 
The  All-giver  would  be  unthanked,  would  be  un- 

praised, 
Not  half  his  riches  known  and  yet  despised. 

— Milton:  Comus, 


ARGUMENTATION  143 

3.  Is  it  not  an  absurd  and  almost  sacrilegious  belief 
that  the  more  a  man  studies  Nature,  the  less  he  reveres  it? 
Think  you  that  a  drop  of  water,  which  to  the  vulgar  eye  is 
merely  a  drop  of  water,  loses  anything  in  the  eye  of  the 
physicist  who  knows  that  its  elements  are  held  together  by  a 
force  which  if  suddenly  liberated  would  produce  a  flash  of 
lightning  ?  Think  you  that  what  is  carelessly  looked  upon 
by  the  uninitiated  as  a  mere  snowflake  does  not  suggest 
higher  associations  to  one  who  has  seen  through  a  micro- 
scope the  wondrously-varied  and  elegant  forms  of  rock- 
crystals?  Think  you  that  the  rounded  rock  marked  with 
parallel  scratches,  calls  up  as  much  poetry  in  an  ignorant 
mind  as  in  the  mind  of  a  geologist  who  knows  that  over 
this  rock  a  glacier  slid  a  million  of  years  ago  ?  The  truth 
is,  that  those  who  have  never  entered  on  scientific  pursuits 
are  blind  to  most  of  the  poetry  by  which  they  are  sur- 
rounded. Whoever  has  not  in  youth  collected  plants  and 
insects,  knows  not  half  the  halo  of  interest  which  lanes 
and  hedgerows  can  assume.  Whoever  has  not  sought  for 
fossils  has  little  idea  of  the  poetical  associations  that  sur- 
round the  places  where  imbedded  treasures  were  found. 
Whoever  at  the  seaside  has  not  had  a  microscope  and  aqua- 
rium, has  yet  to  learn  what  the  highest  pleasures  of  the 
seaside  are. 

— Herbert  Spencer:  Education, 

4.  We  return  finally  to  the  fundamental  reason  for 
teaching  mathematics  at  all.  .  .  .  Is  it  because  the  doc- 
trines of  number  and  of  magnitude  are  in  themselves  so 
valuable,  or  stand  in  any  visible  relation  to  the  subjects 
with  which  we  have  to  deal  most  in  after  life?  Assuredly 
not.  But  it  is  because  a  certain  kind  of  mental  exercise, 
of  unquestioned  service  in  connection  with  all  conceivable 
subjects  of  thought,  is  best  to  be  had  in  the  domain  of 
mathematics.    Because  in  that  high  and  serene  region 


144     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

there  is  no  party  spirit,  no  personal  controversy,  no  compro- 
mise, no  balancing  of  probabilities,  no  painful  misgivings, 
lest  what  seems  true  to-day  may  prove  to  be  false  to-mor- 
row. Here,  at  least,  the  student  moves  from  step  to  step, 
from  premise  to  inference,  from  the  known  to  the  hitherto 
unknown,  from  antecedent  to  consequent,  with  a  firm  and 
assured  tread,  knowing  well  that  he  is  in  the  presence  of 
the  highest  certitude  of  which  the  human  intelligence  is 
capable,  and  that  there  are  the  methods  by  which  approx- 
imate certitude  is  attainable  in  other  departments  of  knowl- 
edge. 

— Sir  Joshua  Fitch  :  Lectures  on  Teaching, 

2.  Outlining  the  Argument 

A.  Outline  in  the  form  of  a  simple  brief  the  argvr 
ments  contained  in  the  paragraphs  given  below.  To  do 
so,  first  state  the  central  thought  in  the  form  of  a  prop- 
osition,  then  append  related  statements  which  prove 
the  first  proposition. 

Example. — All  the  advantages  of  this  superiority  de- 
rived from  our  infinite  resources  and  our  isolated 
position  are  at  once  imperiled  if  the  principle  be 
admitted  that  European  pov^ers  may  convert  Amer- 
ican states  into  colonies  or  provinces  of  their  own. 
The  disastrous  consequences  to  the  United  States 
of  such  a  condition  of  things  are  obvious.  The 
loss  of  prestige,  of  authority,  and  of  weight  in  the 
councils  of  the  family  of  the  nations,  would  be 
among  the  least  of  them.  Our  only  real  rivals 
in  peace  as  well  as  enemies  in  war  would  be  found 
.  located  at  our  very  doors.     Thus  far  in  our  history; 


ARGUMENTATION  145 

we  have  been  spared  the  burdens  and  evils  of  im- 
mense standing  armies.  But  with  the  powers  of 
Europe  permanently  encamped  on  American  soil, 
the  ideal  conditions  we  have  thus  far  enjoyed  can- 
not be  expected  to  continue.  We  too  must  be 
armed  to  the  teeth. 

— ^EiCHABD   Olney:   Letter   to   Ambassador 
Bayard. 
Outlined  in  the  Form  of  a  Brief  : 

I.  To  admit  the  principle  that  European  powers  may 
convert  American  states  into  colonies  or  provinces  of 
their  own  would  be  disastrous  to  the  United  States ;  for, 

(a)  It  would  result  in  the  loss  of  our  position 

among  the  nations. 

(b)  It  would  imperil  the  advantages  derived  from 

our  superior  position. 

(c)  It   would  necessitate   the   establishment   and 

maintenance  of  a  large  standing  army. 

1.  Such  is  only  a  part  of  the  indictment  against  the 
English  alphabet.  Shall  we  try  to  get  up  a  society  for  re- 
forming it?  Well,  I  for  one,  should  not.  First,  because 
the  task  is  so  formidable.  To  do  it  effectively  we  must 
have  thirty-eight  characters  instead  of  twenty-six;  we 
must  cease  to  employ  many  of  the  letters  we  now 
use,  and  the  whole  aspect  of  the  written  language 
must  be  altered.  And  even  when  the  written  lan- 
guage had  been  truly  conformed  to  the  speech  of 
the  capital  and  of  educated  persons,  it  would  remain 
untrue  and  non-phonetic  in  Yorkshire  and  Devonshire, 
and  even  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  unless  all  provincialisms 
and  dialectic  varieties  are  to  be  obliterated;  which  is  nei- 
ther probable  nor  in  itself  eminently  desirable.     Then  the 


146     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

price  we  should  pay  for  such  a  reform  would  be  very  heavy. 
We  of  this  generation,  who  have  been  educated  in  the 
anomalous  system,  would  learn  the  new  one,  I  grant, 
without  much  difficulty,  and  for  our  lifetime  both  the  old 
and  the  new  literature  would  be  read.  But  to  the  next  gen- 
eration, educated  on  the  more  rational  principle,  our  pres- 
ent spelling  would  be  hopelessly  unintelligible,  and  the 
whole  of  our  past  literature,  everything  that  is  not  worth 
reprinting,  would  become  a  foreign  language,  and  would 
remain  unread  by  our  successors. 

— Sir  Joshua  Fitch:  Lectures  on  Teaching. 

2.  Is  Lady  Macbeth's  swooning,  at  the  close  of  her  hus- 
band's most  graphic  picture  of  the  position  of  the  corpses, 
real  or  pretended  ?  .    .    . 

She  had  been  about  a  business  that  must  have  some- 
how shook  her  nerves, — granting  them  to  be  of  iron.  She 
would  herself  have  murdered  Duncan  had  he  not  resem- 
bled her  father  as  he  slept;  and  on  sudden  discernment  of 
that  dreadful  resemblance,  her  soul  must  have  shuddered, 
if  her  body  served  her  to  stagger  away  from  parricide. 
On  the  deed  being  done,  she  is  terrified  after  a  different 
manner  from  the  doer  of  the  deed,  but  her  terror  is  as 
great.  .  .  .  That  knocking,  too,  alarmed  the  Lady — be- 
lieve me,  ...  as  much  as  her  husband,  and  to  keep  cool 
and  collected  before  him,  so  as  to  be  able  to  support  him 
at  that  moment  with  her  advice,  must  have  tried  the  utmost 
strength  of  her  nature.  Call  her  Fiend — she  was  a  Woman. 
Downstairs  she  comes — and  stands  among  them  all,  at  first 
like  one  alarmed  only — astounded  by  what  she  hears,  and 
striving  to  simulate  the  ignorance  of  the  innocent — 
*'  What,  in  our  house  ?  "  "  Too  cruel  anywhere !  "  What 
she  must  have  suffered  then  Shakespeare  lets  us  conceive 
for  ourselves;  and  what  in  her  husband's  elaborate  de- 
scription of  his  inconsiderate  additional  murders,  "The 


AEGUMENTATION"  147 

whole  is  too  much  for  her/'  she  "is  perplexed  in  the  ex- 
treme " — and  the  sinner  swoons. 

— John"  Wilson  (Christopher  North) :  Nodes 
Ambrosiance. 
3.  Was  there  any  internal  evidence  which  proved  Addi- 
son to  be  the  author  of  this  version  ?  Was  it  a  work  which 
Tickell  was  incapable  of  producing?  Surely  not.  Tickell 
was  a  fellow  of  a  College  at  Oxford,  and  must  be  supposed 
to  have  been  able  to  construe  the  Iliad,  and  he  was  a  better 
versifier  than  his  friend.  We  are  not  aware  that  Pope  pre- 
tended to  have  discovered  any  turns  of  expression  peculiar 
to  Addison.  Had  such  turns  of  expression  been  discov- 
ered, they  would  be  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  supposing 
Addison  to  have  corrected  his  friend's  lines,  as  he  owned 
that  he  had  done. 

— ^Macaulay:  Essay  on  Addison, 

B.  Write  outlines  (in  the  form  of  briefs)  for  single 
paragraphs  of  argumentation  on  the  propositions  called 
for  in  Exercise  A,  Page  140. 

C.  Develop  the  outlines  called  for  in  the  preceding 
exercise  into  argumentative  paragraphs  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  to  two  hundred  words. 

3.  Refutation 

A.  Refutation  is  the  disproof  of  an  opposing  argu- 
ment. Outline  in  the  form  of  a  brief  the  refutations 
contained  in  the  paragraphs  given  below.  State  clearly 
the  argument  to  be  refuted. 

Example. — I  have  no  wish  to  deny  that  the  Stamp  Act 
was  a  grievance  to  the  Americans,  but  it  is  due  to 
the  truth  of  history  that  the  gross  exaggerations 
which  have  been  repeated  on  the  subject  should  be 


148     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

dispelled,  and  that  the  nature  of  the  alleged 
tyranny  of  England  should  be  clearly  defined.  It 
cannot  be  too  distinctly  stated  that  there  is  not  a 
fragment  of  evidence  that  any  English  statesman, 
or  any  class  of  English  people,  desired  to  raise 
anything  by  direct  taxation  from  the  colonies  for 
purposes  that  were  purely  English.  They  did  not 
ask  them  to  contribute  anything  to  the  support  of 
the  navy  which  protected  their  coast,  or  anything 
to  the  interest  of  the  English  debt.  At  the  close  of 
the  war  which  had  left  England  overwhelmed  with 
additional  burdens,  in  which  the  whole  resources 
of  the  British  Empire  had  been  strained  for  the 
extension  and  security  of  the  British  territory  in 
America,  by  which  American  colonists  had  gained 
incomparably  more  than  any  other  of  the  subjects 
of  the  Crown,  the  colonies  were  asked  to  bear  their 
share  in  the  burden  of  the  Empire  by  contributing 
a  third  part — they  would  no  doubt  have  been  asked 
to  contribute  the  whole — of  what  was  required  for 
the  maintenance  of  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men, 
intended  primarily  for  their  own  defence.  One 
hundred  thousand  pounds  was  the  highest  estimate 
of  what  the  Stamp  Act  would  annually  produce, 
and  it  was  rather  less  than  a  third  part  of  the  ex- 
pense of  the  new  army.  This  was  what  England 
asked  from  the  most  prosperous  portion  of  her 
Empire.  Every  farthing  which  it  was  intended 
to  raise  in  America,  it  was  intended  also  to  spend 
there. 

— Lecky:   History    of   XVIII   Century   in 
England. 


AEGUMENTATION  149 

Outlined  : — 

The  passage  of  tlie  Stamp  Act  was  not,  as  has  been 
alleged,  an  act  of  tyranny  on  the  part  of  England,  for, 

I.  There  is  no  evidence  that  England  desired  to  tax 
the  colonies  for  purely  English  purposes ;  for, 

(a)  They  were  not  asked  to  contribute  to  anything 
but  to  the  support  of  the  army  required  for 
their  own  defense. 

II.  The  tax  imposed  was  not  heavy;   for, 

(a)  The  Stamp  Act  would  have  produced  less  than 
a  third  of  the  expense  of  the  new  army. 

1.  It  is  right  that  we  should  feel  pity  for  the  fate  of 
Andre ;  but  it  is  unfortunate  that  pity  should  be  permitted 
to  cloud  the  judgment  of  the  historian,  as  in  the  case  of 
Lord  Stanhope,  who  stands  almost  alone  among  competent 
writers  in  impugning  the  justice  of  Andre's  sentence.  One 
remark  of  Lord  Stanhope's  I  am  tempted  to  quote,  as  an 
amusing  instance  of  that  certain  air  of  "  condescension " 
which  Mr.  Lowell  has  observed  in  our  British  cousins.  He 
seeks  to  throw  discredit  upon  the  military  commission  by 
gravely  assuming  that  the  American  generals  must,  of 
course,  have  been  ignorant  men,  "  who  had  probably  never 
so  much  as  heard  of  Vattel  or  Puffendorf,"  and  accordingly 
'^  could  be  no  fit  judges  on  any  nice  or  doubtful  point  of 
military  law."  Now  of  the  twelve  American  generals  who 
sat  in  judgment  on  Andre,  at  least  seven  were  men  of  ex- 
cellent education,  two  of  them  having  taken  degrees  at 
Harvard,  and  two  at  English  universities.  Green,  the 
president,  a  self-educated  man,  who  used  in  leisure  mo- 
ments to  read  Latin  poets  by  the  light  of  his  camp-fire, 
had  paid  especial  attention  to  military  law,  and  had  care- 
fully read  and  copiously  annotated  his  copy  of  Vattel. 


150     CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

The  judgment  of  these  twelve  men  agreed  with  that  of 
Steuben  (formerly  a  staff  officer  of  Frederick  the  Great) 
and  Lafayette,  who  sat  with  them  on  commission,  and, 
moreover,  no  nice  or  intricate  questions  were  raised.  It 
was  natural  enough  that  Andre's  friends  should  make  the 
most  of  the  fact  that  when  captured  he  was  traveling  under 
a  pass  granted  by  the  commander  of  West  Point ;  but  to  ask 
the  court  to  accept  such  a  plea  was  not  introducing  any 
nice  or  doubtful  question;  it  was  simply  contending  that 
"the  wilful  abuse  of  a  privilege  is  entitled  to  the  same 
respect  as  its  legitimate  exercise.'' 

— Fiske:  American  Revolution. 

2.  The  advocates  of  Charles,  like  the  advocates  of  other 
malefactors  against  whom  overwhelming  evidence  is  pro- 
duced, generally  decline  all  controversy  about  the  facts, 
and  content  themselves  with  calling  testimony  to  character. 
He  had  so  many  private  virtues!  And  had  James  the 
Second  no  private  virtues  ?  Was  even  Oliver  Cromwell,  his 
bitterest  enemies  themselves  being  judges,  destitute  of  pri- 
vate virtues  ?  And  what,  after  all,  are  the  virtues  ascribed 
to  Charles?  A  religious  zeal,  not  more  sincere  than  that 
of  his  son,  and  fully  as  weak  and  narrow-minded,  and  a  few 
of  the  household  decencies  which  half  the  tombstones  in 
England  claim  for  those  who  lie  beneath  them.  A  good 
father!  A  good  husband!  Ample  apologies  indeed  for 
fifteen  years  of  persecution,  tyranny,  and  falsehood ! 

— Macaulay  :  Essay  on  Milton. 

3.  *'  I  distinctly  prefer  that  my  son  should  not  be  an  ath- 
lete," said  a  friend  of  mine,  who  is  also  a  parent,  to  me 
the  other  day.  .  .  .  "  I  want  him  to  have  quiet  family 
tastes,  to  care  for  butterflies  and  beetles,  to  be  sober- 
minded,  reasonable,  domestic.  Your  games  are  a  mere  ex- 
crescence on  a  properly  disciplined  life,  are  a  factitious 
pleasure  and  an  artificial  employment  of  energy."    "  Thou 


ARGUMENTATION  151 

fool ! "  I  said  to  him  (I  am  not  habitually  impolite,  but  I 
have  been  pursuing  my  theological  studies  a  good  deal 
lately),  "is  not  all  school  artificial  to  the  last  degree?" 
"  So  much  the  worse  for  it,  is  it  ?  That  is  just  what 
you  complain  of?  Why,  is  not  all  our  life  a  purely  arti- 
ficial produce  from  the  lives  of  past  ancestors,  and  is  not 
the  business  of  each  generation,  if  Darwinism  be  true, 
nothing  else  than  to  artifise  its  successors?  Beetle  me  no 
beetles!  I  am  not  going  to  give  up  what  I  see  visibly  to 
be  the  food  of  health  and  virtue,  because  you  consider  that 
a  Swiss  Family  Robinson  could  do  very  nicely  without  it.'^ 
— Edvtard  Bowen  :  On  Games, 

B.  Prepare  outlines  in  the  form  of  briefs  for  para- 
graphs refuting  arguments  which  might  he  brought  for- 
ward to  disprove  the  propositions  contained  in  the 
paragraphs  called  for  in  Exercise  A,  Page  140. 

C.  Develop  the  outlines  called  for  in  the  preceding 
exercise  into  paragraphs  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  to 
two  hundred  words. 

4.  Fallacies 

A  fallacy  is  a  piece  of  false  reasoning.  Some  of  the 
commoner  fallacies  which  may  be  recognized  without 
the  aid  of  the  formal  study  of  logic  are  as  follows : — 

Generalizing  from  insufficient  examples,  as  when  a 
traveler,  having  met  with  a  few  instances  of  discour- 
tesy, concludes  that  all  foreigners  have  bad  manners. 

Begging  the  question,  or  assuming  what  should  be 
proved,  as  when  a  debater  announces  his  intention  of 
proving  that  our  present   injudicious   foreign  policy 


162     CONSTEUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

should  be  discontinued,  thus  taking  for  granted  what 
he  is  required  to  prove,  namely,  that  our  foreign  policy 
is  injudicious. 

Arguing  in  a  circle,  or  using  one  unproved  assertion 
to  prove  another,  as  when  the  high  moral  character  of 
a  public  official  is  deduced  from  his  conduct  while  in 
office,  and  his  conduct  is  justified  by  referring  to  his 
high  moral  character. 

The  non  sequitur  fallacy,  or  assuming  hastily  or 
falsely  the  existence  of  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect, 
as  when  the  British  matron  of  the  slums  protested 
against  the  compulsory  vaccination  law,  asserting  that 
she  would  not  permit  her  children  to  be  vaccinated,  for 
her  neighbor  had  had  six  children  vaccinated  the  pre- 
vious year,  and  one  of  them  had  died  six  months  after- 
wards. 

Equivocation,  or  the  use  of  a  term  in  two  different 
senses,  as  when  the  statements  that  designing  persons 
are  untrustworthy  and  that  everybody  forms  designs  are 
given  as  justification  for  the  conclusion  that  nobody  is 
to  be  trusted. — (Davis.) 


Point  out  and  classify  the  fallacies  in  the  following: — 

1.  "  It  will  be  wrong,  I  feel  sure  it  will.  Don't  you 
remember  what  that  lady  we  met  at  the  Royston  Baths  told 
us  about  the  child  her  sister  adopted?  That  was  the  only 
adopting  I  ever  heard  of,  and  the  child  was  transported 
when  it  was  twenty-three.  Dear  Godfrey,  don't  ask  me  to 
do  what  I  know  is  wrong." 

— George  Eliot  :  Silas  Marner, 


ARGUMENTATION  153 

2.  For  many  generations  the  people  of  the  Isle  of  St. 
Kilda  believed  that  the  arrival  of  a  ship  in  the  harbor  in- 
flicted on  the  islanders  epidemic  colds  in  the  head,  and 
many  ingenious  reasons  were  devised  by  clever  men  why 
the  ship  should  cause  colds  among  the  population.  At  last 
it  occurred  to  somebody  that  the  ship  might  not  be  the 
cause  of  the  colds,  but  that  both  might  be  the  common 
effects  of  some  other  cause,  and  it  was  then  remembered 
that  a  ship  could  only  enter  the  harbor  when  there  was  a 
strong  north-east  wind  blowing. 

— John  Morley. 

3.  Thou  hast  most  traitorously  corrupted  the  youth  of 
the  realm  in  erecting  a  grammar-school,  and  .  .  .  con- 
trary to  the  king,  his  crown,  and  his  dignity,  thou  hast 
built  a  paper  mill.  It  will  be  proved  to  thy  face  that  thou 
hast  men  about  thee  that  usually  talk  of  a  noun  and  a 
verb,  and  such  abominations  as  no  Christian  ear  can  endure 
to  hear. 

— Shakespeare:  Henry  VI. 

4.  All  Cilieians  are  bad  men;  Cinyras  is  the  only  good 
man  among  them,  and  Cinyras  is — a  Cilician. 

— Greeh  Anthology. 

5.  "  Do  you  remember,'^  said  the  foolish  woman  in  the 
'^  Spectator  "  to  her  husband,  "  that  the  pigeon-house  fell 
the  very  morning  that  our  careless  wench  spilt  the  salt 
upon  the  table  ?  "  "  Yes,  my  dear,"  replies  the  gentleman, 
"  and  the  next  post  brought  us  an  account  of  the  defeat  of 
Almanza." 

6.  As  two  boys  were  walking  through  the  fields  they 
found  a  peach.  A  dispute  arose  as  to  how  the  treasure- 
trove  should  be  shared,  and  it  was  finally  agreed  that  one 
should  take  the  outside  and  the  other  the  inside.  He  who 
received  the  stone  found  little  to  be  satisfied  with,  but  de- 
termined to  be  wiser  next  time.    A  little  farther  along 


164    CONSTRUCTIVE  EXERCISES  IN  ENGLISH 

the  road  they  discovered  a  nut ;  "  The  outside  for  me," 
cried  the  one  who  had  fared  ill  before;  but  the  shell  was 
no  whit  softer  than  the  stone  had  been. 

7.  If  a  man  who  turnips  cries 
Cries  not  when  his  father  dies, 
'Tis  a  proof  that  he  would  rather 
Have  a  turnip  than  his  father. 

— Dr.  Johnson. 


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